Zara McDermott’s friends reveal the toxic breakup with Sam Thompson and his ‘disappointing actions’ – by KATIE HIND

Louis Tomlinson had wanted to keep his recent trip to East Anglia with his new girlfriend Zara McDermott a secret. Unfortunately, his plans did not go as expected.

The singer from One Direction chose a low-key location, The Suffolk hotel in Aldeburgh, for their getaway so they could enjoy some privacy away from the public eye.

The couple’s attempt to keep their romance private was disrupted when another hotel guest spotted them and took photos. The guest revealed that Louis and Zara were enjoying themselves, acting like teenagers, as they shared a meal of fish and chips at the hotel, where rooms are priced at up to £315 per night.

The couple have been together for all of two-and-a-half weeks – but I’m told that Zara, 28, is utterly smitten with the ex-boyband heartthrob, 33, whom she is believed to have met on social media, as young celebrities tend to do these days.

‘Zara really, really likes him,’ gushes a friend. ‘They have only been together a short time, but they clearly get on really well and are enjoying one another’s company. They didn’t want it to come out this soon – and didn’t think it would. Louis made sure they went somewhere understated in the hope that they wouldn’t be seen. He is an expert [at staying anonymous], and has been photographed relentlessly since he was a teenager.

‘Things seem to be moving pretty fast. Zara is really happy and that’s what matters the most – all anyone around her wants is to see her smiling.

Zara McDermott was pictured with former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson at The Suffolk Hotel in Aldeburgh earlier this month

‘Things have been tricky for her for the past 18 months and her split from [ex-boyfriend] Sam Thompson was difficult, so it’s nice to for her to have a new start.’

Everyone, surely, would wish the fledgling young couple happiness . . . everyone, that is, except perhaps Sam himself.

I can reveal that the ex-Made In Chelsea star turned I’m A Celeb winner may not be going away any time soon.

In fact, just hours after the pictures of Louis and Zara emerged – following much online speculation that they were an item – Sam appeared to make a cryptic dig at the speed at which Zara had moved on. He and Zara split up shortly before Christmas after five years together – and after months of trying to make their relationship work. Friends say that Sam didn’t want to give her up.

Speaking on his podcast Staying Relevant with ‘relationship expert’ Paul Brunson this week after the Suffolk pictures emerged, Sam mused: ‘A lot of people look for validation in other people and they look for the next person instantly . . . It’s like, ‘I need to find someone else to fill that hole and I need to find that excitement.’

‘You know when you get that excited feeling when you are talking to someone new and fresh? I can’t do that.’

Sam’s oblique comment was not lost on Zara’s friends – who took a dim view of his outburst.

Now they tell me that Sam will never be forgiven for these ‘snide’ and ‘attention-seeking’ remarks.

‘Why would he do this?’ asks one pal. ‘Zara put a lot into her relationship with Sam: she did everything she could to make it work for five years, but in the end she just couldn’t.

‘He’s a loose cannon, as we saw with his comments so soon after Zara’s relationship was made public. It’s really quite pathetic of him. It feels like it always has to be about him.

‘Six months ago he was crying in the street with photographers watching because he was upset at Zara. You have to wonder what he is going to say next. Why can’t he just let her move on? Will she ever escape his clutches? Who knows.’

Zara had a five-year romance with ex-Made In Chelsea star Sam Thompson, who expressed surprise at the speed with which his former girlfriend had moved on from him 

Friends of Louis will be thrilled about his new-found happiness after several deaths of family members and close friends left him in a dark place. To make matters worse, his nine-year-old son Freddie lives 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles 

After they split, Zara moved out of their west London home and started life afresh as a single woman. Just two months later, on February 18, eagle-eyed One Direction fans spotted that Louis had started following Zara on Instagram. He then ‘liked’ a snap she had posted on March 1 from the Brit Awards.

After working at the Department for Education as a policy adviser, Essex-born Zara became a contestant on the fourth series of Love Island in 2018. Then she appeared on The X Factor: Celebrity a year later before going on to present her own BBC documentaries, including Revenge Porn, Uncovering Rape Culture and Disordered Eating, all based on her own experiences.

Then came her horrific experience on Strictly. Last July, I revealed how her professional dance partner Graziano Di Prima brutally kicked her during their rehearsals on the BBC1 show, leaving her devastated.

‘It was horrid,’ said a friend. ‘It was deeply upsetting for Zara. She kept on going and was determined to stay in the competition but it was hard.’

Now Louis’s pals will be thrilled to see him smiling after years of torment.

In 2016 he was left heartbroken when his mum Johannah Deakin died of cancer. Then, in 2019, his younger sister Félicité died, aged just 18, after she accidentally overdosed on cocaine, anxiety medication and painkillers at her flat in Earl’s Court, west London.

Louis is also thought to find it difficult that his nine-year-old son Freddie, who he had during his relationship with stylist Briana Jungwirth in 2016, lives 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles.

Making matters still worse, his One Direction bandmate Liam Payne died last October when he fell from a third-floor hotel balcony in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

He and Liam, along with bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik were catapulted to fame after they were put together on 2010’s The X Factor. The group notched up 14 Top Ten hits before announcing an indefinite break in January 2016.

Louis, who has sold more than 70 million records with the band and as a solo artist, has had several girlfriends since shooting to fame.

Firstly, there was Hannah Walker in 2010, before he met model Eleanor Calder a year later. They dated until 2015 when they went their separate ways, but reunited in 2017 before splitting again. Most recently he was linked briefly to Danish model Sofie Nyvang, but he has been single for several months.

‘This is so lovely for Louis,’ said a former colleague of the singer. ‘Liam dying really hit him hard. He was still close to him so that was a very difficult time. Louis thought of Liam as a brother and the circumstances around his death were just awful.

‘Louis has had an unfair amount of grief to deal with – so those around him have been really hoping he would find someone to settle down with. It’s great that Zara understands fame like he does. Watch this space.’