Zayn Malik interview for the 1st time in 6 years

In a rare appearance, Zayn Malik opens up about life after One Direction, and talks about fatherhood. 

Former One Direction member, Zayn Malik appeared on Alex Cooper’s Spotify podcast, Call Her Daddy, Malik gave details on why he quit One Direction, and the anxiety he was facing, he went on to talk about his daughter, Khai.

Malik opened up about the persona he had during his time with the band and shared that he did not like how each member was assigned one particular personality, calling it a marketing scheme.

He said: “They just said, ‘Oh yeah, you can be the mysterious one, that wasn’t necessarily my personality type. I know that a lot of people have high-energy personalities and it’s just not the way I am.”

The singer revealed that the members got sick of each other as they spent every single day together for five years.

He shared that there were underlying issues within their friendship, and said: “We’ve been together every day for five years and we got sick of each other. We were close, we do crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand, or have experiences that we’ve shared together.”

But now, Zayn admitted that he can now look back at the memories and experiences they shared in a much “fonder light.”

On leaving the band, Malik revealed that there were a lot of politics going on and that he “selfishly” wanted to be the first member to leave the group.

“Certain people were doing certain things [and] certain people didn’t want to sign contracts, so I knew something was happening so I just got ahead of the curve. I selfishly wanted to be the first person to make their own record.”

“I’m passive but when it comes to my music and my business, I’m serious about it and I’m competitive. I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing.”

The 30-year-old went on to talk about hi anxiety struggles and fatherhood, Zayn who shares a daughter, Khai with Palestinian model Gigi Hadid shared: “Anxiety for me, I’ve learned is a feeling that now has a word, and I feel like, for generations, human beings have felt it and not really been able to put their finger on what it is… but we overcome it.”

And added that welcoming Khai changed his perspective and made him feel like he had to step up, he explained: “Since I’ve had my daughter, the main thing in my mind is trying to be a good example for her, that’s why I’m even doing this interview.”

He continued: “I used to get a lot of anxiety around having a conversation like this. I want her to look at me and be like, ‘Yo, my dad’s doing this! He’s the man, he’s cool.’ That’s helped me a lot.”