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.
"I've always wondered how others deal with this... being the big and famous James Corden, emphasis on the big part, y'know. I never have that many issues taking my kids to the park or doing a food shop. How is it for you? Is it very limiting being the Styles family?"
"It is limiting, in a way. But it's our normal. We have a big back garden that somehow went from being our party place to Kaya's personal playground and they're both used to staying in our area. It's only a problem if we go into the city. We're pretty secluded here, there aren't many paps around.", Harry took the lead on this one but James turned to me to give my two cents.
"I think it only seems overwhelming when you see photos of celebrities getting mobbed. But our everyday life still resembles the normal, or at least we try. I take the kids out for a walk every morning and Harry takes them to the park in the afternoons. We have a lovely group of young parents that live in the area, which is a great help when one of the littles develops a new rash or a cough we'd not heard before. When it's nice out we try to get them to spend as much time in the garden as they can and we play a lot.", I didn't lie – our life really did seem as normal as possible under the circumstances. I'd expected it to go a bit differently, but Harry did everything he could to shield us from the prying eyes and camera lenses.
"So you do need assistance sometimes?", we both nodded, "What would you say the hardest part of parenthood has been for you?".
"It's not hard as much as it is challenging, I'd say... right teacup?", Harry took a sip of his coffee and waited for me to continue on his thought, "Yeah. I remember I threw the same tantrums for the same things when I was little and I still have the urge to do that sometimes but now I have to be the parent and calm them instead of joining them. They really are good kids, except for a few situations in which they refuse certain foods or fight sleep.".
"I reckon in those situations you think back to holidays and calm moments. What would you say are your most memorable moments together?", James' question got us both thinking, we hadn't been on holiday in a minute.
"Honestly, from the moment we met everything has been memorable. I'd say the birth of our children, our wedding day here in the garden, dancing through the streets of Palermo and driving through Spain... but when memories fade and disappear, the emotions are the only thing left and those are – so much love and admiration.", Harry's answer came very close to pushing me over the edge and unleashing a waterfall, but I kept my cool.
"That surely makes you thank the universe for putting a poet and songwriter in your path, am I right Thea?", I nodded, "Okay, now for some funny questions... What are your biggest pet peeves about the other person, what would you say are their most annoying habits?".
"Are you sure you want to go there, mate? I don't fancy sleeping on the sofa!", Harry exclaimed but I gave him a look that said: you're going down, Styles, "When Harry wakes up he doesn't let you sleep. If he's awake, then you have to be too. Doesn't matter if it's six in the morning or ten at night.".
"I see what's happening here teacup. Well my wife here, she leaves socks all over the house. She's always cold, you see, and she always has socks on. But then she warms up when we're watching the telly on the sofa and she takes the socks off and just leaves them there.", this question definitely brought out the competitive streaks in Harry and me.
"Okay you two! Let's move on to something else... I know my mate Harry speaks only English, but what about you Thea? Do you speak any other language?", James tried defusing the situation.
"Why thank you for asking James, I do. I speak Croatian which is my mother tongue, Spanish and English. I'm teaching all three languages to the kids as well, at least I'm trying to... Kaya's actually pretty good in Spanish."
"Does that mean you watch a lot of international TV? Is the Styles household more fan of sports or of movies?", we were back in safe territory, somewhere Harry and I wouldn't try to one-up each other.
"Teacup watches a lot of football and Kaya loves to join her. Big Barca fans, those two. Nicky and I are more into Sesame Street these days. But we watch Love Actually at least four times per year. That's our absolute favorite!"
"Last question: if you had to pick one tune to be the theme song for your life, which would you choose?", James shuffled in his seat and it suddenly hit me that we made it through the interview.
"I'll leave that one to the professional... Harry?", he extended his hand for me to hold and rubbed his chin, "A Sunday Kind Of Love, by Etta James.".
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A/N: here's an extra chapter for you - you're welcome. I'm honestly going to try writing a couple more of these to give you something to read during these weird times . Hope you like this one, and the questions...
TPWK, always.
T.