When Simon Cowell spoke candidly about ownership rights of the One Direction name last month, Harry Styles took it much better than his former bandmates, Niall and Louis.
In a recent chat with Hello! Magazine, the music mogul, 64, revealed that shortly after his appearance on Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast in June, Styles, 30, called him up to reminisce about the “great time” they had together during the One Direction Era.
"It was great to hear from him," Cowell said, adding, "He said listening to the podcast reminded him of what a great time we had together."
The X Factor creator — who also founded the band on the same show in 2010 — gushed over Harry, praising the Watermelon Sugar hitmaker for taking the time to call despite his skyrocketing fame.
"I thought it said so much about him that he would bother to make that phone call," Cowell said.
Notably, though, two other One Direction members did not have the same reaction to Cowell’s comments, where he shared his one “regret” over the band.
“The one thing I regret is I should have owned the name. They own the name. I could have made an animation or something. So if you’re listening One Direction then I will buy it back from you!” Cowell declared in the podcast.
According to The Sun, Tomlinson and Horan distanced themselves from their former mentor just days after Cowell’s bombshell interview aired, reportedly unfollowing him on Instagram.