MUMBAI: Singer Harry Styles slept on a mattress in producer Ben Winston's attic for 20 months.

Styles, 23, was looking to move into a property in Hampstead Heath here and he asked Winston whether he could stay at his house for a short time while the finishing touches were done for his new house, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

"Two weeks later and he hadn't bought his house yet. It wasn't going through. Then he said, 'I'm going to stay until Christmas, if you don't mind.' Then Christmas came, and…," Winston told Rolling Stone magazine.

Styles, who became a star during his time in One Direction, actually ended up living with Winston and his wife Meredith for 20 months, even though his fans still gathered outside his property where he didn't actually live.

"Those 20 months were when they went from being on a reality show, 'The X Factor', to being the biggest-selling artists in the world," Winston said.

"That period of time, he was living with us in the most mundane suburban situation. No one ever found out, really. Even when we went out for a meal, it's such a sweet family neighbourhood, no one dreamed it was actually him. But he made our house a home. And when he moved out, we were gutted," he added.

(Source: IANS)