Harry Styles Uses a ‘Hacks’ Character’s Name to Check In at Hotels

Harry Styles is a huge fan of Hacks – so much so that he uses a character’s name to discreetly check into hotels, according to series star Jean Smart.

In a preview clip of her appearance on the Tuesday, May 7, episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Smart, 72, told host Drew Barrymore how she “found out that [Styles] was using Deborah Vance’s name to check into hotels as his alias.”

Smart, who plays lead character Deborah Vance, said, “We saw there was a picture of him sitting next to his bodyguard and his bodyguard had the envelope with his keys and everything in it and it said, ‘D Vance,’ and he was on the 13th floor, and we found out indeed, he did use ‘D Vance’ to check into hotels.”

Fans of both Hacks and Styles, 30, went wild over the info in the comment section of the preview clip, which was posted via Instagram on Monday, May 6.

“That was the most perfect TEA,” wrote one social media user, while another added, “My worlds are colliding, Harry Styles & Jean Smart?? Now that is iconic & I hope Jean gets to meet Harry soon!!”

Smart further explained to Barrymore how she found out Styles was a fan of the show.

“I have never met the man, unfortunately. But we did an episode where it shows that Deborah collects antique salt and pepper shakers,” Smart began. “And about a week or two after it airs, I get this beautiful bouquet of flowers and a package, and inside was this gorgeous vintage salt shaker that looked almost exactly like the one that we used in the show.”

She continued, “It was from ‘H,’ and I found out it was from Harry because I knew his then-girlfriend, Olivia Wilde, and she told me that it was from him. Then he gave me and my youngest tickets to his show.” (Smart shares two children with late husband Richard Gilliland: sons Connor, 34, and Forrest, whom they adopted in 2009.)

Smart noted that Styles sent her concert tickets again the following year but has yet to meet him.

Hacks premiered on Max in May 2021, with its third season hitting the streaming service on May 2.

The award-winning series stars Smart, who portrays a Las Vegas comedian in need of reinventing her act to keep her residency, and Hannah Einbinder, a down-on-her-luck comedy writer who team up together and help each other with their respective career and life issues.

Smart took home the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 2021, where she honored late husband Gilliland in her acceptance speech. She also took home the title at the 2022 Emmy Awards.

The actress previously opened up about filming the first season of Hacks amid her husband passing away after a brief illness. He was 71.

“You know, I feel like I just should say something about my husband, because he passed away very unexpectedly. I still had a week of Hacks left to do. That was hard. I had to do a funeral scene,” she told The New Yorker in June 2021. “It’s been really weird. It’s not anything I ever dreamed would happen. Not so soon. He made me laugh all the time. That’s going to be hard to live without.”