Zayn Malik has struck a nerve with fans over his recent admission that he doesn’t think he was ever in love with his ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid.
The former One Direction star, 33, was in a six-year relationship with supermodel Hadid, 30, from late 2015 to 2021. The two also share a five-year-old daughter, Khai. During a recent appearance on podcast Call Her Daddy with host Alex Cooper, Malik reflected on that relationship and how he views it now.
“At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I got older, I realized maybe it wasn’t,” he told Cooper. “Maybe it was lust, maybe it was this, maybe it was that. I don’t feel like it was love. And to be fair, just to say this on record, I will always love G because she is the reason my child is on this earth, and I have the utmost respect for her.”
“I have so much respect for this woman, and I do love her a crazy amount,” he continued. “But yeah, no, but I don’t think I was in love with her at that point.”
He added that the way he describes love is “always developing,” and while the relationship might have been love for him while he was physically in the relationship, he no longer views it that way.
“At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I got older, I realized maybe it wasn’t,” Malik said. “Maybe it was lust. Maybe it was this, maybe it was that. I don’t feel like it was love.”
After the podcast episode premiered, fans were quick to criticize the singer’s comments, writing on social media that Malik’s comments should not have been said publicly, especially given how long the relationship lasted.
“Zayn Malik said publicly he doesn’t know if he was in love with Gigi Hadid,” one person wrote on X. “I’m sorry but what?”
“This is a terrible thing to say publicly about someone you were with for six years,” a second commented.
“Imagine Gigi sitting at home hearing that her 20s were basically a ‘misunderstanding’ of his feelings. There is being honest with yourself, and then there is being unnecessary,” a third said.
Alongside a GIF of Lucille Ball cringing, another wrote: “The fact that Zayn Malik doubled down basically saying the only reason he respects and ‘loves’ Gigi Hadid is because he knocked her up and she had his child.”
However, some people were more appreciative of his “very honest take on love and growth.”
“A raw, reflective insight into past relationships and the ways people grow over time,” one person on X wrote about Malik’s comments.
The Independent has contacted Malik’s representative for comment.
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