Harry Styles once sang, “I live for you, I long for you, Olivia,” so maybe we shouldn’t be surprised that he got the name permanently tattooed on his body.
When Styles, 29, went boating in Bolsena, Italy, with James Corden, the former talk show host’s wife Julia Carey, model Jacquelyn Jablonski and more pals on Friday, July 28, he seemingly debuted a new tattoo. The former One Direction singer was spotted with ink that read “Olivia” in cursive on his thigh, according to photos published by Page Six.
The “Olivia” tattoo was positioned above a similar one that appears to read, “Colazione,” which is the Italian translation for breakfast.
While Styles — who has an expansive collection of tattoos across his chest, arms and legs — has not revealed when he got the tattoo or his inspiration, eagle-eyed fans immediately speculated that it could be a nod to his ex-girlfriend Olivia Wilde. “Olivia Wilde knowing Harry Styles got the name olivia tattooed on his body because of her,” one social media user wrote via Twitter on Sunday, July 30, alongside a GIF of Miley Cyrus‘ Hannah Montana character sleeping soundly.
Another chimed in: “Harry and Olivia were real, were in love and they clearly believed they were gonna be together forever it wasn’t fake, wasn’t PR and wasn’t a stunt you dumb f—kers.”
Styles and Wilde, 39, were first linked in early 2021 after connecting on the set of her directorial film Don’t Worry Darling. While the pair seldom commented on their relationship, Wilde — and her two children with ex-fiancé Jason Sudeikis — frequently attended his Love on Tour concerts. Us Weekly ultimately confirmed in November 2022 that the twosome had called it quits.
While it is not known if the new tattoo was inspired by Wilde, other fans have pointed out that the Booksmart director shares the same name as the One Direction song “Olivia.” The ballad dropped on the band’s final album, Made in the A.M., in November 2015.
“The funniest thing about ‘Olivia’ is that it’s one of my favorite songs on the album because it’s so different and feels like so much old stuff that I love,” Styles previously said of the song during one of the band’s YouTube videos about their writing process. “It probably took the least time to write [and] I think that’s kind of, a lot of the time, when you get the best stuff is when they come out and you just write stuff down, and it almost writes itself.”
He added at the time: “I think the greatest thing about music in general is that you can put these labels on things and you can put names in things and it seems like there’s no gray area, but it doesn’t have to be so literal. Like, Olivia could be a place or a family member. It’s not necessarily about me, it might be an observation thing, but when you listen to it, you assume there’s a girl called Olivia, which could be true or isn’t necessarily the case.”
While we may never know the origin of Styles’ “Olivia” tattoo, our Directioner hearts can only hope it is a subtle ode to the British boy band.
