Photo: “Call Her Daddy” Podcast on Spotify.
Former One Direction member, Zayn Malik, just gave his first interview after six years. He appeared as a guest on the popular podcast, Call Her Daddy, hosted by Alex Cooper, where he opened up about his quiet life in Pennsylvania after moving out of New York. The singer shares joint custody of his daughter, Khai, with his ex-partner, Gigi Hadid, and discussed how fatherhood has changed him.
“The main thing [on] my mind is trying to be a good example to her,” Malik said. “In terms of, you know, I can do things and I can achieve things and I can overcome things. And you [Khai] can do this too.”
Photo: Instagram.com/gigihadid
Previously, Malik lived with Hadid and her family on their Pennsylvania estate but moved out after their relationship ended in 2021, following an alleged physical altercation between Malik and Hadid’s mother, Yolanda Hadid, a former Real Housewife of Beverly Hills star. Malik, who wanted to be close to his daughter, moved nearby the estate to share custody of their daughter.
“I feel like I’ve like had to step up as a man or just as a person and be this example to her that doesn’t succumb to these feelings,” he revealed. “That’s why I’m even doing this interview. I used to get a lot of anxiety having a conversation like this in this kind of environment.”
When discussing the reported altercation between Malik and Yolanda Hadid in 2021, Malik stated why he kept quiet to the public: “Any sort of narrative online where my daughter was going to look back and read that, and be able to read into it and it would just be something that there was no point.” He added, “I knew what the situation was, I knew what happened and the people involved knew what happened too. And that’s all I really cared about. I believe I dealt with it in an amicable, respectful way.”
View this post on Instagram
Malik is now on his way to release a new album this summer which he details in the interview, “My daughter’s mentioned in there a couple of times.” This will now be Malik’s fourth album with the title track Love Like This, his first release since signing with Mercury Records last month.
Read Next: Gigi Hadid Would Reportedly Have ‘No Problem’ With Selena Gomez Dating Ex Zayn Malik
