The boy band have spoken out in a frank interview with YOU Magazine in the Mail On Sunday about the media’s infatuation with Harry Styles’ love of cougars and the rest of the band’s love lives.

Among dating models closer to his own age, Harry Styles has recently been linked with Caroline Flack 32 and Natalie Imbruglia 37.

He has been quoted as saying, “I used to say the age limit was any woman older than my mum – who is 43 – but...”

Harry insisted that newspapers confuse his innocent friendships with something more,

“Quite a lot of the girls I get photographed with are just friends, and then according to the papers, I have, like, 7,000 girlfriends.”

Niall Horan told the magazine that he does not feel ready for a girlfriend yet and is enjoying the single life. Meanwhile Louis Tomlinson has been dating his girlfriend model Eleanor Calder for a year and fellow band mate Zayn Malik is currently dating Perrie Edwards, from the girl group Little Mix.

Zayn is smitten with Edwards and recently told Cosmopolitan Magazine as he posed with his band mates in what is the first all-male cover in the magazine's 40-year history,

“Yes, I’m a big believer in the motto, "Behind every great man there’s a great woman". And she’s great.”

However, it is Liam who is dominating the column inches with rumours that he is romantically linked to Leona Lewis, following his recent break-up with dancer Danielle Peazer.

The most important relationship overall to the boys seems to be their bond with each other. Harry explained to YOU,

“Fifteen years from now we want One Direction to be playing a gig together at Wembley. The tickets aren’t available yet, but hold on, because one day they will be.”

Take a sneak peek behind the scenes with the boys on a Teen Vogue cover shoot: