Zayn Malik Addresses 2021 Incident With Yolanda Hadid
Nearly two years later, the singer stands by his statement.
“I knew what the situation was, I knew what happened and the people involved knew what happened too,” he told Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper. “And that’s all I really cared about. If anybody of the same mind would look at the situation, I believe that you could respect that I just didn’t want to bring attention to anything. I just wasn’t trying to get into a negative back and forth with her—any sort of narrative online where my daughter was going to look back and be able to read into it and it would just be something, there was no point.”
As Zayn explained, he believes he dealt with the situation “in an amicable, respectful way.”
“And that’s all that needs to be said,” he continued. “I just I feel like it’s a lot of negativity.”
Zayn Malik Discusses Co-Parenting With Gigi Hadid
As for his co-parenting relationship with his ex, Zayn noted that he and Gigi have a “really good” bond, confirming that he has 50 percent custody.
“I’m super full on, hands on with my child every chance I can be,” he explained. “If I could get 60 percent, I would have it.”
Zayn Malik Details One Direction Taking Off to Superstardom
“It was kind of strange, the visual evidence of life changing like people being outside of the studio and stuff,” he said. “When we were in the live shows, we started to get a fan base and an audience, you could see that people paying interest in us. From that point on, it was kind of a bit crazy.”
So much so that Zayn now realizes that he didn’t take it all in at first.
“I don’t I comprehended it at all,” he said of the sudden fame. “It was a rush, it was fun and then repetitive fun over and over again and eventually it’s going to take its toll.”
Zayn Malik Reveals Why He Left One Direction
“There was a lot of—look I don’t want to go into too much detail, but there was a lot of politics going on,” he said of the group. “Certain people were doing certain things, certain people didn’t want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening, so I just got ahead of the curve. I was like, ‘I’m just going to get out of here. I think this is done.’…I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record, if I’m being completely honest with you. I was like, ‘I’m going to jump the gun here for the first time.'”
Noting that he usually thinks of himself as a “passive dude,” Zayn admitted he takes a different approach when it comes to music.
“I’m serious about it and I’m competitive, so I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing,” he continued. “That was the reason—and then there was obviously underlying issues, like within our friendships too.”
Zayn Malik Explains How He Views One Direction Now
“We’ve been together every day for five years and we’ve got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest,” he added. “We were close. We done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand or have those experiences that we’ve shared with each other, and I look back on it now in a much fonder light than I would’ve as I just left. There were great experiences, I had great times with them, but yeah, we just run our course.”
Zayn Malik Shares Why He Took a Break From The Spotlight
“I think that’s why I’ve took the time I have to not even necessarily do interviews and do too much press exposure because I feel like we were so overexposed in the band that it takes a bit of time for you naturally to progress as a human,” he said, “and give something else that is interesting that you have to say.”
As he put it, “You don’t want to be sat there just saying the same s–t on repeat, you know? I mean day in, day out, like, I think this should be a good healthy break in between—and that was my approach to it. I feel like in terms of figuring out what your identity is as an artist, the only way you’re going to do that is by living.”
Zayn Malik Shares How He Deals With Anxiety
“For me, since I’ve had my daughter, since she was born, the main thing in my mind is trying to be a good example to her, in terms of—I can do things,” he shared. “I can achieve things and I can overcome things and you could do this too. And to let things like a feeling stop you from doing that, after having a child, feels like a really small thing.”
As he noted, “I used to get a lot of anxiety around having a conversation and I want her to be able to look at me be like, ‘My dad’s doing this, he’s the man. He’s cool.'”
Zayn Malik Describes His Unbreakable Bond With His Daughter
Zayn Malik Explains Why He & Gigi Hadid Live in Pennsylvania
“It’s interesting,” he said. “I ended up coming out here with my ex a bit, and I fell in love with it. It was just super calm and chill. And I just wanted to like take a break from like the busy city because I was living in New York for three years at the time and it just got a bit overwhelming.”
Zayn Malik Says New Music Will Feature Mentions of Daughter Khai
“I’m doing a record I don’t think people are really going to expect,” Zayn teased. “It’s a different sound for me and it’s got some more narrative going on, like real life experiences and stuff. So, yeah, my daughter’s mentioned in there a couple of times.”
