Theo Horan

Theo Horan was born on July 16, 2013, in Mullingar, Ireland, to Greg and Denise Horan and was christened on 9 November. Greg, born on February 11, 1988, is five years older than Niall (September 13, 1993). Niall and Greg’s parents, Bobby Horan and Maura Gallagher separated and eventually divorced when the boys were still children. They subsequently stayed with their mother for a year before moving in with their father.

Niall first garnered media and public attention as a contestant on the seventh series of ITV’s ‘The X Factor (UK)’. While he failed to make it beyond the bootcamp round, he was put in a group along with Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik. They came to be known as One Direction. They finished the competition at third place but had already garnered nationwide fame. In the ensuing years, One Direction has become one of the most successful boy bands in the history of music, having sold over 50 million records worldwide as of 2017.

Despite the age difference of five years, Niall and Greg always had been close. In fact, the former served as the best man in the latter’s wedding, which took place on March 27, 2013, at St Michael's Church in Castletown Geoghegan in County Westmeath, Ireland. Niall was also picked as Theo’s godfather by his parents.

In the very month Theo was born, in July 2013, his uncle shared a picture with him on his Twitter handle. It changed the lives of Theo and his parents. Many One Direction fans took notice of Niall’s family and became their fans as well. In March 2014, Greg and Denise set up a Twitter account for Theo, which currently has nearly 700 thousand followers. His Facebook page has about 36 thousand followers. As for Instagram, while Theo does not have an account of his own there, his parents do, and he is often featured in their respective accounts. His father has 133 thousand subscribers whereas his mother has 68 thousand.

Greg and Denise reportedly started off their son’s career by booking him to inaugurate a Lidl store in Mullingar in February 2017. Since he was a toddler, he has been signed with Irish model and entrepreneur Andrea Roche’s model agency. Greg and Denise even celebrated Theo’s first birthday by making 20ct gold-plated commemorative coins and selling them to One Direction fans for about €25. Theo used to have a website but it has apparently since been taken down.

It was reported in February 2017 that his family’s use of his fame has irked Niall. He was not happy with how the personal pictures of him with his nephew were being shared on social media. In April 2017, ‘Daily Star’ reported that Niall had broken all ties with his brother. However, since then, they seem to have reconciled.