Louis Tomlinson's mother, Johannah Deakin, passed away on December 7, 2016, at the age of 42 from leukemia. As the One Direction heartthrob approaches the one year anniversary of his mother's death, he is opening up about how this awful situation has affected him over the course of the past 12 months. While it has obviously been a struggle, for Louis and his entire family, Johannah's passing has actually inspired him to really put himself out there as a solo artist. She encouraged him while she was still here, and Louis admits that it's the memory of her that keeps him going.

The "Miss You" singer chatted with Metro and said that before going on stage at the Royal Variety Performance a couple of weeks ago, he had "a little word with myself." Louis said, "I think, 'I have got to make her proud.' It’s those things that really keep me going. It’s been a crazy 24 months and a hell of a lot to deal with for someone of my age."

He continued, "Enormous tragedies affect people in different ways. I’m lucky that my mum brought me up to be pretty thick-skinned. There is never any time in my job to sit and feel sorry for myself. I always want to keep going and keep fighting. Of course, at times it is as difficult as it possibly could be…It genuinely makes me a stronger person and creatively it gives me so much depth. I think I am coping as well as I could do, to be honest." This was one of the rare instances where Louis really opened up about what he's going through. However, it seems like, from him and his siblings' social media presence that they have become extremely close since last December. Of course, they were always a tight-knit family, but with Johannah's death they seem to have leaned on each other even more.

Last week Louis posted a photo hanging out with his twin sisters, Phoebe Tomlinson and Daisy Tomlinson. He captioned the shot, "So lovely to see you lot this weekend ! Love you !" Phoebe actually posted the same photo with the message, "Love you so much brother bear! Your amazing ❤️❤️ don't think he was ready aha… ?." On the same picture, Daisy wrote, "Thank you for being the best big brother in the world! I miss you everyday x."

Louis' other sisters Lottie Tomlinson and Felicite Tomlinson were seen on Instagram together at the beginning of November. She captioned her photo, "Such a sick night! Forever proud of you, none of us could do it without you ??." The photo is super adorable but eye-opening to see how much they all really do lean on each other since last year.

We have a feeling that with the holidays coming up, Louis and the rest of his siblings are going to be spending a lot of time together. With Louis' recent mentality and the will he has to keep his mother's memory alive, this family can truly get through anything together.

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