Zayn Malik’s biggest regret after breaking up with Perrie Edwards

One Direction star Zayn Malik has opened up about his previous engagement to Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards, nearly ten years after the couple split.

Zayn, now 31, was in a high-profile relationship with Perrie, now 30, from 2012 until they split in 2015. The pair, who shot to fame on The X Factor, got engaged before giving up after over over. three years together.

The former One Direction member, who left the band just before his split from Perrie, reflected on that period in his life. He admitted to Nylon magazine that at the time he “didn’t know shit” and had made rash decisions, the Mirror reports.

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Referring to his time with Perrie, Zayn said that from the age of 17 to 21, he was deeply involved in the relationship. He confessed: “I was engaged and (planning to) get married and I didn’t know anything about anything at the time.”

At 21, despite being of age for many engagements, he realized his lack of real-world knowledge, declaring, “I was legally allowed to do everything, but I didn’t know shit.”

According to the publication, Zayn suggests that his attempts to have a normal life as a young adult were influenced by the constraints of fame. He reminisced about his simpler days in Bradford, where he “never really had a girlfriend” or “brought a girlfriend home” before his life was transformed by stardom.

He shared, “When I got the chance to do it, I jumped right in, two feet in and said, ‘I’m going to have a girlfriend and she’s going to live with me.’ Zayn also mentioned that he believed this made him a “mature man”.

Zayn later engaged in what was called an “on and off relationship” with model Gigi Hadid, now 29. The former couple, who split in 2021, have a three-year-old daughter named Khai. He hinted that it “didn’t take him long to get to know himself” by entering another long-term relationship after his romance with Perrie.

Perrie previously hinted that Zayn ended their relationship via text. The Little Mix member is believed to have written about the relationship in the group’s 2016 book Our World.

She described it as the ‘worst moment’ of her life, adding: ‘A four-year relationship, two years of engagement ended by a simple text message. Is that so. Even though things in my career were going really well, it was incredibly difficult for me.”

There had already been rumors about the situation, but Zayn seemed to deny them ahead of the book’s release. He told Fader in 2015: “I have more respect for Perrie than ending anything over text. I love her very much and I always will, and I wouldn’t end our relationship of over four years like that. (…) I don’t want to explain why or what I did, I just want the public to know that I didn’t do that.”

Prior to the announcement of their split, there were allegations that Zayn had been unfaithful to his then-girlfriend Perrie while on holiday. However, a representative for Zayn denied these claims at the time.

In a recent interview, Zayn revealed that he is now single for the “first time” in his life and feels “really content and happy.” Meanwhile, Perrie is engaged to footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, 30, and they have a two-year-old son called Axel.