That cheeky chappy Harry Styles has opened up about his controversial relationship with cougar Caroline Flack, saying that what they had was mostly ‘physical’.

The 14-year age gap became too much for the couple, who dated last year, and they called it a day after just three months together, which at the time Harry seemed devastated about.

But now the 1D star has admitted that what he had with 32-year-old Xtra Factor presenter Caroline wasn’t exactly the stuff of great romance novels.

Will Sweeney, who was in Harry’s old band White Eskimo said: “I remember asking Harry about Caroline and he laughed.

“He said it was more of a physical relationship than anything else,” Will told The People.

“All his mates think he’s a bit of a legend though. It’s classic Styles. He definitely enjoys the attention and he’s making the most of it.”

We wonder how Caroline feels about that?

Harry’s secret torment as hometown gangs up on him

Will also spoke about the abuse Harry’s been receiving since he hit the big time with One Direction.

Despite having thousands of fans in the UK and the rest of the world, Harry has come up against negative comments from residents of the village where he grew up; Holmes Chapel in Cheshire.

The 18-year-old is said to be ‘shocked and upset’ at the nastiness, which most likely stems from jealousy.

“It really upsets Harry because he's a sensitive guy. He doesn't understand it either. People call him a dickhead and refer to him as that twat. More recently he's had abuse on network sites and chatrooms,” Will said.

“It gets him down and when he comes back to see his family he just like to keep out of the way of some people because of what they've said.”

Will says Harry is doing his best to ignore the negativity on social networking sites.

“He's had quite a few tweets and comments posted on Facebook and on the internet from people calling him names. He doesn't read the messages any more. He just ignores them now.”

We just can’t understand how anyone could be mean to this curly-haired cutie.