Louis Tomlinson was "fuming" when he found out One Direction wanted to split.

Louis Tomlinson

Louis Tomlinson

The 'Walls' hitmaker admitted he was "bitter and angry" when he found out his bandmates - Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Niall Horan - wanted to take a break from the band.

He said: "I was f***ing fuming at first. We were working really hard - people have said overworked, but we weren't overworked, that's just what happens when you're a band that size, though I understand. I thought I'd mentally prepared myself for a break, but it hit me hard ... About a week after, I sat there thinking, 'Strike while the iron's hot,' but I wasn't ready. I was bitter and angry, I didn't know why we couldn't just carry on. But now, even though I don't fully understand everyone's individual reasons, I respect them."

And Louis insists that if it was up to him, he would have only taken a year out.

He added: "It if was up to me, yeah. I'd maybe have said, 'Let's have a year off.' But yeah, probably. I'm sure there's a better analogy out there but it's a bit like shutting down Coca-Cola. You don't say, 'Right, let's hang the boots up on that,' because it's a massive thing."

The boy band announced in 2016 that they were taking some time apart, less than a year after Zayn Malik departed the band and Louis admits when he first joined the band, he spent the first 18 months going out all the time.

Speaking to The Telegraph magazine, he shared: "You're ready to be reckless and stupid, but then I was in the band and couldn't ever act like that, especially not publicly. There was a good 18 months where I was going out all the time.

"The press love to write about that as if it's this chaotic thing, and at times it was, but it's also an escape. Once you have a couple of drinks down you in a club, you're just someone in the club, part of everyone else, and not everyone is looking at you."