Always You |harry styles| - completed

INTERVIEW WITH JAMES CORDEN

It took a lot of convincing for me to agree to do an interview with anyone, luckily the fact that James Corden would be the one to do it calmed me down. It was Jeff's idea, another one in his constant struggle to keep Harry relevant... as if Harry could ever become irrelevant. I found it absurd, but my husband was really eager to do it. It was only after he told me we could do it on our terms, that I agreed. James was going to come to our home, the kids wouldn't be shown, we'd do it in our living room and the questions were pre-screened. It was James, he was a friend and one of the few people that knew where the fine line between personal and public was.

"Does Gemma need any more toys to keep the kids occupied?", Harry just left the playroom upstairs where Gemma would be saving the day (and the interview) by playing with the kids and keeping them quiet and contained.

"I think she's set, love. James will be here any moment now.", right on cue, the bell rang. It wasn't the first time James has come to the house, him and his wife Julia made sure to visit every time they were in London. The kids both loved them and it was nice to have adults that weren't family members over once in a while.

"Hey mate, glad you made it okay. Come in.", his well-known figure appeared in our kitchen and the room instantly lit up... he had that effect on everyone.

"Hi love! How have you been?", James wrapped me in a tight hug, one of those that transmitted just how much a person missed you.

"Good, busy with the kids, they've grown so much, we'll call them down after we've done the thing.", both men laughed at my nervousness, hoping to ease me and break the tension that filled the room.

"The lads will set up the cameras and the rest of the equipment. Leave the toys as they are, it's good if the space looks lived in, y'know.", three men moved skilfully around our toy-littered living room, pulling out tripods and big studio lights. The room did not resemble our living room when they were done, the one the kids played in every morning while we fixed them breakfast. It looked like a staged sitcom living room set with all the umbrella lights. I made some coffee for Harry and myself and fixed a cuppa for James.

"Thank you so much for having me in your home, and thanks for the tea! You two don't drink tea?", James transitioned from regular chitchat to the interview very organically.

"You're always welcome here, James. As far as the tea goes... teacup's not British so she doesn't have tea running through her veins and I'm honestly not that big of a fan. I usually have someone fix me a cup and then I let it go cold so I don't have to drink it.", Harry was a natural in front of the camera, I'd never been this close to him while he was being interviewed so it was all a bit new to me.

"I mean, we try to have some Earl Grey in our kitchen at all times, what type of a British household would we be without it?", I pitched in.

"Now, Thea, there is nothing you can say that will make up for Harry committing treason. What a disastrous way to start an interview. Okay guys, you welcomed your second child around ten months ago, how was it transitioning from one to two? Did Kaya react well to her brother?", James turned to more serious questions. Harry and I had never talked about our family online, he never mentioned our kids in interviews and we didn't post any photos on our public Instagram profiles. We kept their exposure to a minimum... only in situations we didn't have control over were they ever photographed and even then their faces were blurred out by the press. That was the deal we'd made with Harry's agents and with Jeff, but we gave James the go ahead to ask questions that would allow his fans a closer look into his day to day life.

"Oh, it wasn't easy, teacup can tell you that...", Harry started and then looked at me, hoping I'd gotten more comfortable in front of the cameras and I'd continue, "Yeah, it was definitely an adjustment, but Kaya absolutely loves Nicholas now. At first she cried, a lot, and even asked when we'd be returning him to the hospital... as if we'd rented him from there.". We all chuckled at the memory of Nicky's first few days home. Kaya had made some hilarious comments back then.