Zayn Malik opened up about sharing custody of 3-year-old daughter Khai with ex Gigi Hadid.
“I only have my daughter 50 percent of the time,” Malik, 31, revealed during an interview with Nylon, which was published on Tuesday, May 14. “I would have her 90 percent if I could.”
Malik added: “We go see Disney on Ice or we go see the Nickelodeon theme park. Or we go to the beach. That’s how I get out.”
Malik and Hadid started dating in 2015 and expanded their family five years later. “From 21 to 27, I was with Gi, and we had a kid, and I didn’t really take much time to get to know myself,” he told the magazine.
After the arrival of their first child, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the pair grew even closer following the major milestone.
“Gigi and Zayn are loving parenthood and can’t get enough of their little girl,” the insider shared at the time, adding that Hadid was “appreciating every moment” with her daughter and Malik.
In 2021, Malik made headlines when he was charged with four criminal offenses of harassment following an alleged altercation with Gigi’s mother, Yolanda Hadid. Malik, who pleaded no contest to the charges, was fined for the incident and put on probation for 360 days. He was also assigned anger management classes and a domestic violence program. That same month, Us confirmed that Gigi and Malik pulled the plug on their relationship.
Malik has since clarified that he and Gigi have a “good” coparenting relationship.
“The main thing in my mind is trying to be a good example to [Khai],” he said on an episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast in July 2023. “That’s why I’m even doing this interview, you know? I used to get a lot of anxiety around having a conversation like this. And I want her to be able to look at me and be like, ‘My dad’s doing this.'”
During his interview with Nylon, Malik noted that his childhood played a role in how he dove into dating.
“I lived a very chill life in Bradford. I never really had a girlfriend. My parents were kind of old-school, so I never brought a girlfriend home or anything,” he noted. “When I got the chance to do that, I jumped straight in, two feet first, and was like, ‘I’m going to have a girlfriend, and she’s going to live with me. This makes me a grown man.’”
Malik continued: “It’s probably wise to take your time before you fully invest in another human being as a lifelong partner.”
