In a wide-ranging interview with Howard Stern on SiriusXM Monday morning (Mar. 2), Harry Styles finally set the record straight on his reported robbery at knifepoint on Valentine’s Day.
“I was walking home from a friend’s house. I’m five minutes from home, and I see this group of guys who all got their hoods up and their faces covered and stuff and I was like, ‘That’s a bit weird,'” he recalled to the host, before noting that at that point, he turned his music off and became more aware of the situation. “The guys cross the road and I’m like, ‘That’s weird.’ Then, I’m walking up and hear shuffling of feet, trying to catch up to me. So I cross the street, and they cross the street.”
Related
He then thought, “Oh f—‘s sake, I think I’m about to get robbed.” Styles then clarified that despite reports of only one person approaching him, it was a group of people, one of whom asked to talk to the superstar and then asked if he smoked weed or would like any. When Styles said no, the group of men surrounded him and asked what he had on him.
Styles handed over his cash, but then they noticed his headphones and asked what they were lugged into. “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 then the guy’s like, ‘Unlock your phone,’ and the other one pulls his shirt up and he’s got a knife sticking in his pants. I just said, ‘I’m sorry mate, I can’t. I can’t unlock my phone.’ And the guy’s like, ‘You got 10 seconds,’ and he starts counting them down and I’m like, ‘F—, am I going to unlock my phone?”
The singer then saw an “opportunity,” when the traffic light turned green and two cars started coming closer. He ran out onto the road and tried to stop the two cars, to no avail. Styles then ran back “toward the little village area near where I live,” dressed in “corduroy flares and shoes” instead of his usual running attire.
“I guess because they had some cash and stuff they ended up just turning around,” he concluded.
Though he was unharmed in the incident, Styles was understandably shaken but isn’t going to let it stop him from living his life. “I went walking again the next day, because I didn’t want it to stop me walking,” he explained. “I walk a lot of nights when I’m home because I really like it.”