harry styles

This week Harry Styles proved my theory that celebrity finstas (fake Instagram accounts) are very much alive and well. The musician sent the internet wild when he posted a gym thirst trap to his Instagram Stories, in which he was seen wearing a vintage One Direction T-shirt (scream), cute little gym shorts and Hoka sneakers. His hair? It was styled in a clip.

Fans of the British boy band lost it, assuming Styles was declaring his love for his former band to the world, given the top was adorned with photos of his former bandmates — Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne — or hinting at some kind of reunion.

But then he went and deleted it shortly after. The reason? He posted it publicly by accident. Unfortunately for him, the internet has receipts:

harry styles

On stage in New Zealand following his Australian leg of Love on Tour, Styles addressed his IG activity, saying of wearing his former band’s merch, “I guess some of us have secrets.”

He continued in the clip shared to Twitter by a fan, “Maybe, like some people, you want to keep something to yourself, and maybe one day you will accidentally post it to your Instagram Story.”

Now the only question that remains is what was meant for that photo: was Styles taking it to send to a friend — new flame perhaps? — or was he actually meant to upload it to IG — just not on the account millions of his fans follow?

Given Prince Harry admitted to having a finsta, on which he first saw Meghan Markle, and that Kim Kardashian said she has one for stalking (but has forgotten the password), and Lorde’s infamous onion ring account was caught out by fans, I’m here to posit that many high-profile celebs are sleuthing online, posting gym thirst traps to those lucky enough to be accepted into the trust circle.

One can only dream.