Jade Thirlwall and Harry Styles have history together.
The Little Mix alum didn't hold back recounting their glory days on The X Factor, sharing that she and the Grammy winner had a little fling when they auditioned for the U.K. version in 2010.
"We went on like one date when we were 16 or something," Jade said on the Jan. 20 episode of The Louis Theroux Podcast, explaining how Harry had just been "put in a band" that later turned out to be One Direction.
While she didn't make the cut that season, Jade said she and Harry "kept in touch" while he competed alongside bandmates Zayn Malik, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Liam Payne.
"The minute they went on live shows, he didn't message me back," she noted of Harry. "And I thought, 'That's it now, he's gone. He made it.'"
However, their paths crossed again the following year when Jade returned to The X Factor, this time as part of a girl group with Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Recalling how One Direction had been invited on the show to perform, Jade said she and Harry ran into each other backstage.
"I saw him in a room after and he was like, 'I'm really sorry that I ignored you,'" she shared, laughing after host Louis Theroux quipped that she had been "ghosted" Harry.
"I was so young," the 32-year-old added. "It didn't really matter."
In fact, Jade said the "Watermelon Sugar" singer was "always really, really lovely" during their time auditioning for The X Factor.
"He gotten himself where he is because he's very talented," she raved. "He's very lovely, very charming."
But Jade isn't the only Little Mix member with midnight memories about One Direction. After all, her bandmate Perrie dated Zayn for four years before the couple called off their engagement in 2015.
"From 17 to 21, I was in a relationship," Zayn recalled in an interview with Nylon last year, reflecting on his plans to get married to the fellow X Factor alum. "I was engaged. I didn't know anything about anything at that point. I thought I did, because I was 21. I was legally allowed to do everything, but I didn't know s--t."
Looking back, Zayn—who is now dad to 4-year-old daughter Khai with ex Gigi Hadid—believes the engagement was his attempt to prove to himself that he was all grown up.
"My parents were kind of old-school, so I never brought a girlfriend home or anything," he explained. "When I got the chance to do that, I jumped straight in, two feet first, and was like, ‘I'm going to have a girlfriend, and she's going to live with me. This makes me a grown man.'"
To revisit One Direction's most OMG moments, keep reading.
They've Got the X Factor
Despite winning over audiences around the world, the band finished in third place behind Rebecca Ferguson and Matt Cardle in 2010.
Live From New York
The U.K. band made their Saturday Night Live debut in 2012 with an electric performance of their single "One Thing."
Winning Big at the 2013 VMAs
The band took home the coveted moonman trophy for Best Song of the Summer for their song "Best Song Ever."
Hitting the Big Screen
The band gave fans a behind-the-scenes look at live on the road of their This Is Us Tour with their concert documentary movie This Is Us.
Music Royalty
While attending the Royal Variety Performance in November 2014, the band met Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Where They Are
The band's Where We Are Tour was the highest-grossing tour of 2014, beating out Justin Timberlake, The Rolling Stones, Katy Perry as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z's tours that year.
One Direction Minus One
In March 2015, Malik announced that he was leaving the band to launch his solo career.
End of an Era
After releasing 2015's Made in the A.M. as a foursome, Styles, Payne, Horan and Tomlinson announced that One Direction would take an indefinite hiatus.
Fatherhood
Tomlinson became a father to his son Freddie Reign in 2016. One year later, Payne welcomed his son Bear Grey with ex Cheryl Cole.
Reunion?
In 2020, fans suspected that a reunion of sorts was underway when Styles, Payne, Tomlinson and Horan all started following Malik on X—then known as Twitter—again.
Further fueling reunion rumors, Payne told The Sun at the time, "We've got a 10-year anniversary coming up so we've all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice."
Another 1D Baby
Malik and his then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid welcomed daughter Khai in September 2020.
Friends First
Payne attended the London premiere of Tomlinson's 2023 documentary All of Those Voices.