NOT long after I started out in journalism, One Direction were at the height of their fame.
They were on every magazine cover, all the TV shows and you couldn’t turn on the radio without one of their songs blasting out.
Of course with their huge mega stardom came mega fans and it’s fair to say that Directioners are a different breed of followers.
Nineties kids will remember the hysteria when Take That split up and die-hard fans had to take a day off school.
Somehow One Direction fans are even more dedicated than that and I would know.
I regularly wrote about the band when I started out, but it was after one seemingly innocuous article went online that I decided to limit writing about them again.
Not long after it was published I noticed my Twitter (as it was then called) notifications popping off.
The messages were not pleasant, they were calling for me to be sacked, calling me ugly and even threatening to come and find me and kill me.
My surname at the time was Strang and a few of them started saying they were going to Strang-le, clever but not very pleasant.
I did actually report the abuse at the time, but nothing was done about it and I ended up coming offline for a while.
When we broke the news that Louis Tomlinson was dating Love Island and Strictly star Zara McDermott, I instantly first ‘poor her’.
Not because it’s not amazing dating a super rich pop star, but because she will be inundated with abuse.
[bc_video account_id=”5067014667001″ application_id=”” aspect_ratio=”16:9″ autoplay=”” caption=”Zara McDermott looks incredible in a white at the Brit Awards” embed=”in-page” experience_id=”” height=”100%” language_detection=”” max_height=”360px” max_width=”640px” min_width=”0px” mute=”” padding_top=”56%” picture_in_picture=”” player_id=”default” playlist_id=”” playsinline=”” sizing=”responsive” video_id=”6369498045112″ video_ids=”” width=”640px”]And within hours, I noticed her comment section was already full of demands, threats and horrible comments.
One person told her: “ Louis has no love for you, don’t hope for nothing.!!!”
Another added: “Sorry to say but eleanor was better.”
Those are just some that are suitable to publish, others are a lot worse.
Others have begged her to turn her comments off to protect herself and I would agree.
But then again, I would really think twice about if I wanted to date a member of one of the biggest bands in the world.
Is it really worth the reaction from his legion of fans? She will always feel conscious about what she posts, what she says and god forbid when they split up.
I know they say love knows no bounds, but One Direction fans know no boundaries – and it’s terrifying.
[boxout headline=”Timeline of Louis Tomlinson’s love life” intro=”Here we delve into Louis’ love life since his rise to fame in One Direction.”]Hannah Walker – Louis’ first girlfriend, who he dated in 2010. They split in 2011 as his band One Direction took off and the long distance romance was too much for them.
Eleanor Calder – The pair dated on and off from 2011 to 2022. They were first photographed kissing at the London Olympic Games in 2012.
Briana Jungwirth – Louis dated American Briana in 2015 and they have a son named Freddie, who was born in 2016.
Sofie Nyvang – Louis was rumoured to be in a relationship with Danish model Sofie in February 2023. They split two months later in April 2023.