Caroline Flack Opens Up About Relationship With Harry Styles

Caroline Flack doesn't regret her super-inappropriate relationship with Harry Styles, but she does regret the fact that people shouted rude things at her in public about it.

In a new autobiography set to be released later this month, the television presenter opened up about her relationship with Harry, which started back in 2011 after the two met on X Factor. Harry was 17 at the time, and Caroline was 31.

She said (via PEOPLE), "I already knew that he had a crush on me, he'd made it pretty obvious. He'd said it in magazines and he'd said it to friends. Although it was just a bit of fun we decided it was best to keep it to ourselves...We were both single, we got on well and we had a laugh. It was only when it become public knowledge that things turned sour. At the beginning it was all very playful. He joked about being attracted to older women.”

According to Caroline, the age difference (which was glaring and weird to most of the general public, as it should be) never really occurred to her. She said, “I’ve never felt I was much older than Harry anyway. I still feel 18 and probably act that way half the time.”

Once their relationship went public, however, Caroline says people started calling her out in the middle of the street: “It began to go wrong when Harry was pictures coming out of my house on morning. And once that was out, it was open season. After that anyone could say anything. In the street people started shouting at me ‘pedophile’ and ‘pervert.’”

Rather than take the time to reflect on and examine why she, a 31-year-old woman, was interested in dating a 17-year-old boy, Caroline started to focus on the negative comments One Direction fans made about her age and appearance. She said, “Until this point I’d been comfortable in my own skin. I was comfortable with my age, with my life, with the way I looked. I had never really had any doubts or insecurities about myself. Then I actually started questioning who I really was. Am I fat? Am I old? Am I ugly?”

The two broke up shortly before Harry’s 18th birthday. He addressed the breakup in a tweet, writing, "Please know I didn't 'dump' caroline. This was a mutual decision. She is one of the kindest, sweetest people I know. Please respect that.”

Caroline's tell-all autobiography Storm in a C Cup is set to be released on October 22.

See Yearbook Photos of Harry Styles + More Celebrities