Katy Perry Calls Niall Horan A ‘Stage 5 Clinger,’ Recalls Saving Him On ‘The X Factor’


Katy Perry is having a lot of fun teasing Niall Horan. In a recent Instagram story, the Witness singer joked that Horan is following her everywhere she goes, calling him a “Stage 5 Clinger.”

Katy Perry and Niall Horan ran into each other backstage at The Voice Australia, where both were making guest appearances.

“You’re following me!” Perry jokingly accused Horan, as seen on the Instagram clip.

“Yeah, I am everywhere,” Horan replied, while making silly faces.

According to Perry, Horan is always trying to flirt with her. During an appearance on the Australian morning radio show Fitzy & Wippa, via Entertainment Weekly, she said that the former One Direction singer is always hanging around her, eager to ask her out on a date.

“I see [Niall] around all the time. He’s always trying to like, get my number, to like, maybe flirt with me but I’m like, ‘I could babysit you. I’m like your mom!'” she joked.

Horan, however, denied being interested in Perry. When he stopped by Australia’s The Project this week, he jokingly asked the “Bon Appetit” singer to stop being mean to him. He added that Perry was just finding an excuse to patronize him and spread rumors about him when all he wanted was to be friends with her.

Horan also found it funny that Perry keeps getting appalled by their nine-year age difference.

“I mean, she is talking like she is about 55 years older than me. She is not that much older than me,” he pointed out.

All jokes aside, Katy Perry had nothing but kind words to say about Niall Horan. She said that she has always felt connected to Horan in a way after she helped him get through The X Factor.

As fans may recall, Horan’s rendition of Ne-Yo’s “So Sick,” earned mixed reactions from the judges. Cheryl Cole, who is now dating Horan’s former band mate, Liam Payne, was the only one out of three judges to vote in favor of him. Simon Cowell thought Horan was “unprepared” but still likeable. In the end, Perry was the deciding vote. Although she thought that Horan was a bit young, he was 16 when he auditioned, she ended up saying yes because of his charisma. Horan was then placed in a group that ultimately became One Direction.

[Featured Image by Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images]

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