A new interview finds Zayn Malik reflecting on his split from One Direction, admitting “the relationships had broken apart” by the time he left.
Speaking with British Vogue, the 25-year-old pop star recalls the group’s meteoric rise taking place so quickly they could barely process it.
“We went from theatres, to arenas, to stadiums. There was never any sort of bridge between. Just boom, boom, boom. I guess that kind of progression to any mind — but especially when you’re 17, 18 — it kind of affects you a little bit,” Malik tells the magazine.
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“People take it different ways — especially when there are five different personalities,” he continues. “The relationships had broken apart.”
Since leaving the mega-popular 1D to strike out on his own as a solo artist, he admits that relationships remain strained with his former group mates.
“I ain’t spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you. That’s just the way it is. There’s things that happen and things that were said after I left…,” he says, stopping to pause before elaborating: “Snide things. Small things that I would never have expected.”
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In the interview, Malik also shares the revelation that he didn’t make a single friend during his five years in One Direction — although he’s quick to place the blame for that on himself.
“I have always been a bit like that, though — always a bit of an island. I don’t like to confer with too many people,” he explains.
These days, Malik’s closest companion is on-again, off-again girlfriend Gigi Hadid, now that their romance is switched back to the “on” position.
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“Everything is great. She’s super-organized and I’m really not. It helps that she can get things together for me a little bit. I lean on her a lot.”
You can read the full interview in the December issue of British Vogue.
