Anne Twist is in total awe of her son, Harry Styles.
Twist, 56, spoke about being the mom of a global superstar while appearing on the “Spinning Plates With Sophie Ellis-Bextor” podcast on Monday, May 27. “For the most part,” Twist said she finds herself enjoying her son’s shows — but sometimes she’s just rendered speechless.
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“At some point, I find myself sort of standing there staring at him,” Twist said of Styles, 30. “I don’t know, is it adulation? I don’t know. I remember him when he was on the stage at school, and I’d be sat there with tears streaming down my face — happy tears — and I’m either laughing or whatever.”
Twist said she gets a “feeling of warmth” at the thought of watching her son that “emanates from somewhere deep within.” While Twist had a hard time coming up with the word, it was more than just a feeling of pride.
“He still amazes me at times. His last concert in Italy, he did a whole speech in Italian. And I was just sort of stood there with my mouth open, really,” she recalled. “I also find that I spend a lot of time looking at the crowd and looking at people’s reactions.”
Twist said it’s “lovely” to see how people react to Styles on stage but admitting that it’s “tough” navigating his level of fame.
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“It’s quite strange. I mean, I don’t have a lot of issues [with his fame] at all, but I have sort of got to the point now where I can recognize if somebody recognizes me when I’m just out and about,” Twist explained. “I’m always polite, and a lot of them are young girls that cry. And then sometimes I’ll give them a hug.”
Styles rose to fame as part of One Direction, which was formed on U.K.’s The X Factor in 2010. Twist is actually the person Styles has to thank for his fame.
“I have always known since he was 2 or 3, that there has been something. … I used to say he would end up on the stage. Doing what? I had no idea,” she said during Monday’s podcast episode calling Styles a “happy, proper little entertainer” as a youngster.
Twist revealed that she was the one who kickstarted his X Factor audition.
“I can’t even remember what thought went through my head,” she said. “And I just thought, I’ll just send [a tape] off.”
She continued, “I basically said to him, ‘OK, I’ve got you this audition, but it’s totally up to you. If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine. But I just got it, just in case.’ … And then we went for it.”
