Harry Styles’ search for ‘stability’ in age-gap relationships explained

Closer to home

While Harry’s romances with the aforementioned stars are well-documented, the Cheshire native also dated several women who were closer in age to him, and one who was even five months younger (gasp!).

He was briefly linked to Cara Delevingne and Kendall Jenner (who was younger), as well as a slew of other models. One of his longest relationships was with French model Camille Rowe, whom he dated for a year between 2017 and 2018. It reportedly got so serious that he introduced her to his parents, and even wrote the song ‘Cherry’ about her (that’s Camille’s voicemail you can hear at the end of the track). 

She was just four years his senior. In the same vein, he shared a year-long romance with actress Taylor Russell – who is around five months younger than him – from June 2023 to May 2024.

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Perhaps one of his most public relationships was with Taylor Swift in 2012, which, though fleeting, left a lasting impact on pop culture (and Swifties worldwide). After all, we did get the legendary 1989 album out of it, with hits like ‘Style’ and ‘Out of the Woods’ documenting their fling. Harry was 18 at the time, while Taylor was 22, and the duo were spotted on sweet dates in New York several times. They split after just a few months of dating, yet their legacy lives on in song.

His most recent partner, Zoë Kravitz, is only five years older than him, and the couple appear to be enjoying each other’s company if their strolls through Brooklyn, London and Rome are anything to go by – talk about international love!

© Variety via Getty Images

According to Shelly, the longevity of such relationships depends less on the age gap and more on having shared values in life. Similarly, Susie explained that these relationships may break down not as a result of incompatibility but from external pressure.

“There is a tendency to think of age imbalance relationships as temporary, and research shows that there is a higher separation rate in this relationship category…it could be that societal pressure plays a part,” she explained.

Susie pointed out that there were many instances in Hollywood of successful age gap relationships, especially when it came to the LGBTQIA+ community. “Interestingly, in same sex relationships, the statistics [of longevity] are much higher…Sarah Paulson and Ellen DeGeneres are in long-term relationships where there are 32-year and 15-year age gaps, respectively.”