Zayn Malik is reflecting on how his life has changed since his 2013 engagement to Perrie Edwards.
“From 17 to 21, I was in a relationship,” Malik, 31, told Nylon in an interview published on Tuesday, May 14. “I was engaged and [planned to get] married and I didn’t know anything about anything at that point. I thought I did, because I was 21. I was legally allowed to do everything, but I didn’t know s—t.”
He continued: “From 21 to 27, I was with [Gigi Hadid], and we had a kid, and I didn’t really take much time to get to know myself.”
Malik and now Edwards, 30, began dating in 2011 after crossing paths on The X Factor UK. Malik appeared on the competition series with his band, One Direction, in 2010, while Edwards later competed as part of the girl group Little Mix. They got engaged in 2013 but split in 2015.
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Edwards hinted in Little Mix’s 2016 book, Our World, that Malik broke up with her in a text.
“It was horrible, the worst time in my life,” she wrote. “A four-year relationship, two-year engagement ended by a simple text message. Just like that.”
Malik, however, shut down the long-running text rumor in an interview with Fader.
“I have more respect for Perrie than to end anything over text message. I love her a lot, and I always will, and I would never end our relationship over four years like that,” he told the outlet. “She knows that, I know that, and the public should know that as well.”
Malik moved on with Hadid, now 29, dating on and off for four years before welcoming daughter Khai, now 3, in 2020. Us Weekly confirmed the pair’s breakup in 2021. (Edwards, meanwhile, shares son Axel with fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.)
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While Malik and Edwards have rarely discussed their history after parting ways, the former couple coincidentally released new singles — “Alienated” and “Forget About Us,” respectively — on the same day last month.
Elsewhere in his Nylon interview, Malik got candid about the current state of his dating life, confessing he’s tried Tinder.
“It’s not been too successful for me, I’ll be honest,” he said. “Everyone accused me of catfishing. They’re like, ‘What are you using Zayn Malik’s pictures for?’ I’ve been kicked off once or twice.”
When it comes to finding The One, however, Malik is “really content and happy with being single for the first time in my life.”
