Harry Styles branded 'purest soul' as Scott Mills spills celebrity secrets

28 October 2023 , 12:00

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Harry Styles branded 'purest soul' as Scott Mills spills celebrity secrets

Scott Mills has dished the dirt on the famous faces he's worked with and insists Harry Styles has the "purest soul".

The radio legend who for 24 years was the face of BBC Radio 1 announced his departure from the station in July 2022 and moved across the road to BBC Radio 2, replacing the Steve Wright Show. But over the course of his career which started in 1989, he's worked with everybody from actual royalty to music royalty.

However, the 50-year-old admits there is one person he once tried to book for his former Radio 1 show with Chris Stark, although it didn't really go to plan. Speaking to the Mirror, Scott opened up about his experiences with some of the biggest names in the showbiz industry and one surprising comment from a hotel heiress.

Scott Mills, pictured with Chris Stark and has praised Styles who he says has a 'kind soul' (Scott Mills/Facebook)

The broadcasting legend has become one of the biggest names in the industry (BBC/Ray Burmiston)

Eastleigh-born Scott said: "A lot of the artists I interview or speak to, I have known for years. It's the same with Harry Styles or Lewis Capaldi, they relax with you because you've done a lot with them over the years and that's a good place to be in. It's the same with Kylie (Minogue), I did a Kylie one recently.

"I did stuff with her since literally the beginning of Radio One and even at Top of the Pops in probably Spinning Around era, she obviously doesn't remember every interview but she will remember me and go, 'Scott, hey, how are you?' And immediately just makes it a much easier chat, and it's super relaxed, and they enjoy it. All popstars pretty much without exception are nice, they might be tired or they might have just got off a ridiculously long flight and they might not be on their A-game but are they pleasant to be around."

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Discussing Harry, 29, Scott said: "He's a prime example, he's probably in the top three pop stars in the world and he has never changed. I remember when they came in and I played their (One Direction's) first song on Radio One as a world exclusive and he was a lovely boy then and he is a lovely man now. He is literally one of the kindest purest souls you will ever meet.

Scott has worked with One Direction over the course of their careers (YouTube)

"I used to do a lot of stuff with One Direction back in the day and I did this mad thing where I had to fly to LA and do this thing called 1D day, it was a lot. They were literally shoved into the studio with 10 minutes to go and they were like Scott help us what we're doing. But Harry would always check to be like 'Are you ok? Do you need anything?' and he's not lost that. He had a good upbringing, he has a lovely mother. He hasn't changed and I just think he's the best."

But with any major job in showbiz comes some of the best parties, with Scott remembering one night which almost saw him ruin the season two finale of the US hit show, Glee. Speaking about a trip to LA, he went for a night out with his friend Kevin McHale at the height of Glee's fame. He said: "I'm not proud of it but we got carried away with ourselves.

"We went out to this random club, we went back to his house and it was me and a couple of the other people from Glee and my friend Dino and they did show songs on the piano all night, it was great. But he missed his flight the next day to New York to record the season finale of season two – he got the next flight, it wasn't a disaster but it was partly to do with me."

The BBC star was blown away when Paris Hilton said she couldn't go to a club because of rain (BBC)

However, this isn't always the case as Scott revealed that American heiress Paris Hilton once refused to go out clubbing – simply because it was raining. While filming her reality show, Paris Hilton's BFF in London, Paris refused a night out because of the English weather.

He recalled: "She was like 'I really want to go out tonight but it's raining', and I was like 'Yeah, it rains a lot' and she was like 'When it's raining in LA, people just don't go out...'" Scott might be the biggest name in radio but while he and pal Chris Stark were presenting on Radio One, there was one person they tried to book for their show, as well as the hit game, Innuendo Bingo – but things didn't work out.

"We used to put in mad bids," laughed Scott before revealing: "Michelle Obama was in town once when Barack was President. The emails back to us were brilliant, 'As much as Michelle is promoting her book in the UK, this is a no,'" he said while grinning before adding: "If you don't ask, you don't get."

Scott and his partner Sam recently returned from a trip to Los Angeles (Instagram)

Nowadays, the star can be found broadcasting on BBC Radio 2 (@realscottmills/Instagram)

Discussing his his trip to LA with the LA Tourism Board, Scott said: "I've been there a lot over the years, I used to think that in my 20s, I could live there. If you work in the entertainment industry, it feels exciting because it feels like that's where all the decisions are made. Even when I went this time, it was when they just called off the writers' strike. So I was driving past Netflix and there was like, loads of people cheering like with placards going yeah, it's over and I'm like, 'This is wild.'" But now in his fifth decade, Scott explained he doesn't believe he could live in Los Angeles nowadays but does enjoy "dipping in for a week".

While Scott had hoped to live in LA when he was in his twenties, he recalled: "I know a British guy, there's a lot of British people that work in television and they all stick together, it's like a little expat community, this guy used to work on the James Corden show and he was saying that because no-one can really afford to live in West Hollywood or Beverly Hills, so your commute can be an hour and a half there and an hour and a half back. That's part of the reason why I don't think I could live there, but I love it. and I do all the cliche things."

Daniel Bird