Zayn Malik is keeping it real when it comes to his not-so-amicable breakup with One Direction.
Zayn Malik is keeping it real when it comes to his not-so-amicable breakup with One Direction.
The 25-year-old singer gets candid about leaving the hugely successful boy band in March 2015 in a new interview with British Vogue. Malik says he didn't actually make any friends during his time with the band, despite spending five years with One Direction -- whose members include Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson.
"I have always been a bit like that, though -- always a bit of an island," Malik says. "I don't like to confer with too many people."
"We went from theaters to arenas to stadiums -- there was never any sort of bridge between," he adds of the intense experience of their rapid rise to fame. "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. People take it different ways -- especially when there are five different personalities. The relationships had broken apart."
Malik no longer keeps in touch with any of his former bandmates, and admits to there still being plenty of bad blood.
"I ain't spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you," he says. "That's just the way it is. There's things that happen and things that were said after I left... Snide things. Small things that I would never have expected."
These days, Malik is a solo artist, and also confirms he's reconciled with 23-year-old supermodel Gigi Hadid after their brief breakup in March.
“Everything is great,” he says of their relationship. “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."
ET spoke to One Direction in November 2015, when they talked about Malik leaving the band. In Malik's statement at the time about his departure, he stated, "I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight. I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world."
Tomlinson told ET, "I think in any field of work, when you lose someone on your team, obviously it's hard, but the positive take on the situation is we felt we definitely got closer as a group."
"Zayn did have different musical tastes, so that's fine," he added.
More recently, ET spoke to Simon Cowell in August, when he didn't rule out the possibility of One Direction reuniting in the future. The band split in 2016 after being discovered on British X Factor in 2010, where Cowell was a judge.
"I just think the legacy is too big not to go back to at one point," Cowell said. "Plus, they have enough songs. I didn't realize how many hits they've had... When they do get back together, it will be a huge event. But look, they're all doing their own thing and they're all being successful. But I have a feeling it will happen. I really do. I'd love it to happen."
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