Zayn Malik made an interesting confession during a recent appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. While speaking about his ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid, with whom he shares a daughter, Malik said he wasn’t sure he was “ever in love with her.”
Zayn Malik Wasn’t in Love with Ex Gigi Hadid
Back in 2024, Zayn Malik said in an interview on The Zach Sang Show that he didn’t know if he had ever “truly been in love.” During a recent appearance on Call Her Daddy, Malik told host Alex Cooper that he stands by that statement.
“My understanding of love is always developing. At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love,” Malik said of his past relationships. “As I’ve got older, I realized maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was lust, maybe it was this, maybe it was that. I don’t feel like it was love.”
Malik made sure to clarify that he “will always love” his ex-girlfriend, model Gigi Hadid, adding that “she’s the reason my child is on this earth.” He said he has “the utmost respect for her,” sharing, “I will always love her. I don’t know if I was ever in love with her.”
The former One Direction star went on to say that if he had been in love with Hadid when they were together, he “would have been a better version of myself.”
Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid had an on-again-off-again relationship that began in 2015. In September 2020, the pair welcomed a daughter named Khai. The former couple officially called it quits in 2021.
“I’m raising her in an environment that isn’t the same as everybody’s,” Malik said of his daughter. “Her dad is a pop star, her mom is a model, and certain things that she does in life might not always reflect what other people’s understanding of reality is.”
Malik shared that Hadid apparently “gave me sh*t” for giving Khai “a bit too much money from the tooth fairy” (specifically, almost $700) after she lost her first tooth. He added that she’ll likely receive only $5 for her next tooth, joking, “Tooth fairy’s gone broke now.”
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Jill O'Rourke Jill O’Rourke is a contributor at Talent Recap, writing news stories and recaps for shows like ‘AGT,’ ‘The Voice,’ and ‘American Idol.’ She graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in English and Film Studies, and has been writing about pop culture since 2012, with previous bylines at Crushable and A Plus. Jill spends her free time binge-watching sitcoms and daydreaming about life as a hobbit