Harry Styles has opened up about his recent knifepoint mugging, revealing he threw himself in front of two cars to escape his attackers.
The former One Direction singer was set upon by a group of men near his north London home during a late night walk on Valentine’s Day, when they demanded he hand over his phone.
Appearing on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM radio show in the US, Harry detailed the incident for the first time, saying: “I thought, ‘I’m about to get robbed’. The guys are like ‘Hey, can we talk to you for a minute?’ and there is nobody around.
“My heart’s pounding, so I’m like ‘Sure’. He’s like ‘Do you smoke weed? And I say ‘No’. And he’s like ‘Do you want some weed?’ I said ‘No’.
“And he said ‘What have you got on you’. And they all kind of gathered around me, and I said ‘I haven’t got anything’. And he’s like, ‘Stop f****** around’.”
He added: “I would like to clarify there was more than one guy. There was a bunch of guys.” He joked: “There were 87 guys!
“I had some cash in my pocket, so I said ‘Have got some cash’, and I pull out some cash and he takes it from me. And I had my headphone jack sticking into my pocket and he’s like, ‘What’s that plugged into?’
“I was like ‘For god’s sake, it’s my phone’. So I pull out my phone and I’m thinking, OK this is really annoying, but I’ll wipe it and get a new phone, and kind of, whatever – not worth fighting over.
“And then the guy’s like ‘Unlock your phone’. The other guy pulls his shirt up and he’s got a knife sticking in his pants and I was like – shit.
“I just said ‘I’m sorry mate, I can’t. I can’t unlock my phone’.
“And the guy’s like ‘You’ve got 10 seconds to unlock your phone’ and he starts counting them down and I’m like ‘F***, am I going to unlock my phone? Am I going to give him my phone?’”
Harry said he tried to hand over the handset, but the mugger said he wanted it to be unlocked.
He added: “I was like, ‘I can’t’ and there’s like a little pond behind them near where I live, and I thought I’d throw it in the pond and be like, neither of us can have it. Then I thought, I don’t want to piss them off.
“Then the lights changed, and two cars were coming, and I felt an opportunity to sprint and run, and I just run into the road and try to stop a car, and obviously a mad man runs into the road and tries to get in your car you won’t let them into your car, so they don’t let me in, and I try to get another car, they don’t let me in.
“Then I just turned and ran back towards the little village area near where I live.
“So I just sprinted, but usually when I’m out walking I’m wearing running stuff, and this was the one time I was wearing like corduroy flairs and shoes, I was like, ’I’m going to have to f****** sprint all the way down this hill.
“I just sprinted and I guess because they had cash they ended up turning around.”
Asked if it made him feel unsafe walking around, Harry said: “I went walking around the next day for that reason.
“I just didn’t want it to stop me walking. I walk a lot of nights when I’m home and I really like it.
“I feel it’s something I really enjoy, so I went and had some friends with me the next time, but I’ve been going since and I have a night guard who comes to my house.”
After the incident was reported to the police, they confirmed Harry was “not injured” in the attack.
The following day, he attended the Brit Awards, where he performed new single Falling and also delivered one of the most memorable moments of the night with Lizzo.