Yes, it finally happened.
Zayn did his first interview in six years (!!) for Alex Cooper’s podcast Call Her Daddy, available exclusively on Spotify. In this candid chat, the heartthrob talked about his childhood, music career (did you know Zayn went to a school choir because he had a crush on triplets who sang there? LOL), parenthood, and the scandal (!!) with Yolanda Hadid.
Haven’t watched it yet but don’t want to miss out? No worries, we got you covered, sis 🤝.
Via @zayn on Instagram
Takeaways from Zayn’s interview with Alex Cooper
Why Zayn Malik actually left One Direction, and where he stands with the band now
As we all remember, Zayn confessed back in the day that he wasn’t happy in 1D. We now have more details about why he decided to quit. The singer admits there was something ~weird~ going on politics-wise, but the reason for him leaving was “completely selfish”.
“I was like, ‘I’m just gonna get out of here, I think this is done,’ and I have just seen it, and completely selfishly, I 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 gonna jump the gun here for the first time.’ I’m a passive dude, but when it comes to my music and business, I’m serious about it, I’m competitive. I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing,” Zayn said.
Via @onedirection on Instagram
When talking about ex-bandmates Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, and Liam Payne, the artist was *brutally honest*.
“We have been together, every day for 5 years, we got sick of each other. We were close, you know. We have done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand,” said Zayn, and added that now he sees things “in a much fonder light.”
Via @onedirection on Instagram
How he dealt with the Yolanda Hadid scandal in 2021
Just to refresh your memory, in 2021, Yolanda Hadid claimed that Zayn struck her, and she thought about going to the police, as TMZ reported. The artist briefly denied them and never got into the details of what actually happened. Now, we have an explanation for why he thinks he dealt with allegations in “the best way.”
First, Zayn said that explaining yourself “in a toxic environment” takes too much time. Second, he didn’t want to “bring attention to anything.”
Via @yolandahadid on Instagram
“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 read that and be able to read into it. It would just be something that there was no point,” the artist explained.
Co-parenting with Gigi
Baby Khai was born in September 2020. Zayn and Gigi broke up in October 2021 after Yolanda’s allegations. However, they put all disagreements behind them for the sake of their daughter. In the convo with Alex Cooper, the singer shared how co-parenting is going.
“We have a really good relationship for Khai. She’s the main importance, so yeah, it’s going well,” Zayn said. “I think.”
Via @gigihadid on Instagram
New music is coming out
Zayn Malik is back, baby! He has been working on a new record for a while and will release new music soon. The first single will be a standalone song called Love Like This.
“Just a summer jam. It’s a good vibe. It just feels like summer,” he said. “We do need a good summer jam.”
Did you know that Harry Styles was added to the list of celebs who got injured by a fan during a concert recently? Read more about the incident and watch the video here.