Story of his life. Zayn Malik has revealed that he no longer talks to any of his former One Direction bandmates in a new interview published on Thursday, November 2.
“Our relationships have definitely changed since we were in a band together, but I think that’s just life,” the “Dusk Till Dawn” singer told Billboard. “Everybody grows up; two of the guys have got kids now. But no, I don’t talk to any of them, really.”
Back in July, Louis Tomlinson revealed that after his mother, Johannah Deakin, died in December 2016, he had reunited with Malik for the first time since Malik left the group in March 2015. The “Pillowtalk” singer spoke to Us in September about their brief reconciliation, and said: “Yeah, we spoke about that, we’re in touch, everything is on a civil level.”
Malik added: “It’s not the way it used to be, obviously we were a lot closer because we were together the entire time, spending 24 hours a day in the band and now we’re not so we’re living our own lives, we’re all growing as individual men and we still keep in touch and check in with each other not as much as we used to.”
The “Like I Would” crooner also revealed to Us at the time that a friendship between himself and Harry Styles never really existed: “To be honest, I never really spoke to Harry even when I was in the band. So I didn’t really expect that much of a relationship with him when I left. And I haven’t [had one] to be honest.”
In his 2016 autobiography, Zayn, the singer opened up about his struggles with anxiety and with an eating disorder while he was in the band. The singer’s manager Sarah Stennett told Billboard that he has taken these past few years to find balance, by taking things at his own pace and taking care of himself. “The band was like being in the army for him,” Stennett said. “You lose your sense of intuition and instinct about what you really need, and what’s right for you.”
Although the singer has been vocal about his struggles while in the band, he told Us in September that he still doesn’t discard the idea of one day doing a 1D reunion. “Who knows? I’ve said it before: Never say never,” he said at the time. “If I wanted to come back in 10, 15 years time, then yeah, why not? I don’t know. If I didn’t want to [be in the band] then, I might not. It just depends on how I’m feeling at that time.”