Niall Horan Recalls Feeling Trapped At The Height Of One Direction's Fame: 'It Was Heartbreaking'

Sometimes all the fame and hysteria that comes with being part of a boy band isn’t what it’s cracked up to be!

Niall Horan found that out the hard way at points during his One Direction career. Now, in a new interview with Dermot O’Leary, the former boy band crooner is recalling the craziest days at the height of 1D mania — and the memories aren’t always fond!

Speaking on Audible‘s People, Just People podcast this week, the Slow Hands singer went so far as to say there were times he felt “like a prisoner” while touring with the boy band! As you might expect, it all came back to the hoards of fans who would descend upon them at every show: welcome and appreciated, for sure, but also a little over-the-top all the same.

The 27-year-old Irish crooner explained how Directioners would often swarm their hotels, follow them in cars, and trail them everywhere just to get a glimpse of him, Harry Styles, Zayn Malik, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne.

Exasperated by the attention after a while and craving the anonymity of being able to walk down the street again, Niall recalled his feelings in the group, saying (below):

“I struggled with the idea of, why won’t you just let us out? We just want to go for a walk, you know? But, you can’t get inside the brain of a fan, and now I completely get it, but at the time, you’re like, you’re our age! Just let us out! We just want to walk down the street. You must understand!”

We get it!

The toughest experience in that regard for him came during the band’s South American stadium tour. Initially excited to see Lima, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and other amazing cities for the first time, Niall quickly realized that fan intensity was too great to allow the boys to even leave their hotel rooms during the day.

He explained to O’Leary:

“We get into Lima at 1 a.m., and we’re driving from the airport to the hotel, and we see a shopping center. Me and Louie and Liam were like, ‘Ok, when we get up tomorrow morning we’ll have a little stroll around there.’ The next morning we wake up and me and Louie were playing FIFA in the room, and Liam comes up and is like, ‘Come on, let’s go.’ And Louie still had his curtains pulled. Then Louie goes, ‘Just have a look out that window.’ The police had done a headcount, and there were 10,000 people in the street the whole time. … It was heartbreaking, but amazing at the same time.”

Ugh!

Obviously, the singer walks a fine line here. On one hand, it’s the fans — and their crazy devotion — that have given him the dream-like life he leads, so he shouldn’t criticize them too much, ya know?!

But on the other hand, we totally understand! Life must not feel like real life when you’re holed up in your hotel room because 10,000 screaming people want to catch a glimpse of you. That might be fun once or twice, but surely it gets exhausting after a while! Just saying!

Anyway, ch-ch-check out Niall’s entire chat (below):