Neil Patrick Harris confirms a huge fan theory about How I Met Your Mother

Basically, it changes everything.

How I Met Your Mother was all about Ted Mosby telling his kids the story of how he met (and fell for) their mother. But, while we're not going to even get into that ending, we do have to wonder...how much of what Ted told us is true? One fan theory sent everyone into overdrive last year with the suggestion that Ted may have been exaggerating Barney's womanising ways. It all began when a Tumblr user suggested that Ted portrayed Barney as a Lothario (and, admittedly, a bit of a jerk) so that his kids wouldn't be mad at him for ultimately going after Robin, Barney's ex wife. Which...kind of makes sense to us. And, apparently, Neil Patrick Harris buys that theory too. He told Digital Spy:

"I think that that's very accurate. "Given the story structure, and with [Ted] telling the story to his kids, everything was able to be overdrawn."

He went on to note one of the examples from the show: The Rough Patch in season five, where future-Ted admits to his kids that he exaggerated how badly Barney and Robin had let themselves go during a rocky patch in their relationship. Harris continued:

"There's the crazy things, like when Barney and Robin started dating, and they get tired of each other; in that episode, Barney had gained 75lb, and Robin had her hair falling out and had gaps between her teeth! "So Ted's revisions of the characters are, for sure, proven."