Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

At Height Of Success, Harry Styles Slept In An Orthodox Family’s Attic

Right in the thick of One Direction’s early success, when Harry Styles was fast becoming an object of affection for teens — and, er, some of us slightly older than that — the pop star moved in with an Orthodox Jewish family.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Styles discussed moving in with his mentor, producer and director Ben Winston. It was supposed to be a quick crash, but turned into a much more prolonged stay.

“Two weeks later and he hadn’t bought his house yet,” Winston said. “It wasn’t going through. Then he said, ‘I’m going to stay until Christmas, if you don’t mind.’ Then Christmas came, and …”

Styles slept on a small mattress in the Winston family’s attic, and managed to avoid hopeful fans, who gathered in front of the empty house he had yet to move into. The family’s Orthodox Jewish lifestyle, the article noted, “with a strong family emphasis, helped keep him sane.”

“Those 20 months were when they went from being on a reality show, X Factor, to being the biggest-selling artists in the world,” Winston recalled. “That period of time, he was living with us in the most mundane suburban situation. No one ever found out, really. Even when we went out for a meal, it’s such a sweet family neighborhood, no one dreamed it was actually him. But he made our house a home. And when he moved out, we were gutted.”

Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter at @theakglassman.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.