I’ve gone through a lot of different phases with how I feel about Zayn Malik, from thinking he was a little sh-t, to thinking he was the next big solo artist, to thinking that he’s on drugs, to thinking that on a fundamental level, every single person who became famous in their teen years is going to be a screwed up adult. That’s where I think I am with Zayn now – there was so much promise, and it’s been largely unfulfilled. I understand that he has anxiety and he’s a moody bastard, and that One Direction messed with his head in a lot of different ways. Do I still believe in Zayn? I don’t know. Do you still believe in him? Zayn has an interview in the latest issue of British Vogue, and the first excerpts are not great:
On the One Direction days: “We went from theatres, to arenas, to stadiums – there was never any sort of bridge between. Just boom, boom, boom. I guess that kind of progression to any mind – but especially when you’re 17, 18 – it kind of affects you a little bit. People take it different ways – especially when there are five different personalities. The relationships had broken apart.”
He doesn’t call any One Direction dude a friend: Zayn says he came away from his five years in One Direction without having made a single friend. “Yeah, I have always been a bit like that, though – always a bit of an island. I don’t like to confer with too many people.” Does he see any of the band still? “Nah. I ain’t spoke to any of them for a long time, to be honest with you. That’s just the way it is. There’s things that happen and things that were said after I left… Snide things. Small things that I would never have expected.”
He lives “in semi-isolation in SoHo with Gigi Hadid.” “Everything is great,” he says of their relationship, which weathered a brief, but very public, split and reconciliation earlier this year. “She’s super-organised and I’m really not. It helps that she can get things together for me a little bit. I lean on her a lot.”
One Direction went on a permanent hiatus in January 2016, almost three full years ago. I think all of the other guys have managed to talk about the group with fondness, and they rarely engage in this kind of ax-grinding-in-every-interview like Zayn seems to do. Is that merely a function of Zayn’s very high profile, mostly because of his relationship with Gigi? Perhaps. Or maybe he’s still stuck back there, and he still has feelings about the way everything went down, where the rest of the guys don’t. I don’t know. I do know that I’m tired of Zayn still talking about something he proclaims to not care about.
As for this: “She’s super-organised and I’m really not. It helps that she can get things together for me a little bit. I lean on her a lot.” I think that’s probably true. I think Gigi is the “caretaker” of the relationship and Zayn is the “mess.” And that’s something that Gigi will probably outgrow at some point too, this whole thing of “he’s misunderstood/helpless without me, he needs me to take care of him!” Those couples bug.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, British Vogue.
Ugh, agreed on the last paragraph. If that’s the case, chica needs to run away.
Yeah, it’s not a woman’s job to fix her broken partner and make him a better person.
It’s one thing to support and love our partners.
But we are your partner, not your therapist and it is not our job to fix you.
Yes it’s not healthy and if he’s still stuck in the past over One Direction, that’s not healthy either.
I’ve read blinds him and Gigi have major drug problems
Tbh, a lot of women never outgrow this. So many relationships amongst my acquaintances work like that. I could never do it, which probably contributes to me being a forever single. As for Zayn, I don’t think I’ve ever heard a song by him? He’s a pretty child but that’s about it for me.
That’s very true. I know of some women that got married and became more like a mother to their husband than a wife ! I don’t think I’d be able to do it either and would just prefer to be single. A lot of women are raised to believe they must take care of a man, and a lot of men are raised believing a woman must take care of them. I hate that. Men need to learn how to cook and clean as much as women do ! It’s called life skills.
I agree. Men need to find themselves, find god, find whatever to become complete people before they enter into long term relationships. (same goes for women)
I found this incredibly infuriating when living in Ireland in my twenties. Irish mothers have done their sons a HUGE disservice. When living there, I knew a girl getting married to her fella, both early 30’s. He was moving from his mother’s house directly into the house they would share and had never washed a dish, cooked for himself, made a bed, done a load of laundry in his life.
Useless, helpless, selfish and self-centred. Those are the types of men that these mothers are turning out. It has changed somewhat but my own ex, (he was 34 at the time), his mother would come and let herself into his house with her own set of keys (WTF?!) and do his laundry and clean his house for him.
Drove me absoutely crazy, nothing less attractive in a man to me than that.
@rickestrick
OMG why do mothers do that? Those men end up never being happy because they try so hard to find a wife just like their own mother !
i must be the only one to have never found him attractive.
I don’t either, too skinny and too many ugly tattoos. Also where I live there are heaps of kids who look like him.
He’s too much. He seems like a lot of work. Maybe she likes a project. Who knows?
of all the wonderful things he could’ve said about her or their relationship, the thing he opted for is ‘she’s organized’. wow.
He literally said in his last interview that he is still in contact with Niall. He says the same things in every interview (that he hated his 1D days, that his music is coming out shortly, how amazing Gigi is). It’s so boring. He had a lot of potential, but he’s pretty lazy in promotion (i know he has anxiety but there are plenty of other ways to promote), and completely unprofessional (he’s walked out of a few interviews). I think his relationship with Gigi is pretty unhealthy and they are both definitely using heavy drugs.
I know women who haven’t grown out of this “caretaker” mentality, and in some weird way, they thrive on it. They love being able to complain that their husband expects them to cook dinner after a long day (even when their husband really DOESN’T expect this and can order a pizza). They love talking about how their husband wouldn’t have found a job without them because their resume looked terrible before they fixed it for them. It’s a sad kind of relationship, IMO.
This. My aunt is like this to a tee. She LOVES being a caretaker to her husband (my mom’s brother) who over the past 10 years has weathered a lot of health issues–double knee replacements, nerve surgery on his back, and last year he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. However she also likes to complain about things and over exaggerate about my uncle, one of the reasons why her oldest son who is getting married next year seems to have shut his mom out of his life. He doesn’t want his mom using his life for gossip so from the sense I get he talks to her as little as possible. I can’t blame him–I’ve also asked my mom not to disclose information to this particular aunt because I don’t feel like being used as gossip for her entertainment.
I have a number of nosy ass aunts on BOTH sides of the family. They love spreading gossip (they don’t even care if it’s true or not). But when something happens in their own family (their kids) they keep their mouths closed. It’s like they want to spread gossip about others but don’t want others to talk about them. Hypocrites to the fullest.
I’m just here to say that Gigi has the hair of my dreams in that last picture. I don’t know if it’s extensions or not, but I tend to believe she was naturally blessed with that thick gorgeous hair.
Nah. He seems really high maintenance (as both a friend and lover). I am not an easy person, so I see those people out there. Can’t kid a kidder.
His arrested development is apparent and I feel sympathetic for that. He needs to be mommed and nurtured and maybe he needs a time-out as well, because with everything going on, it’s very apparent he’s lacking in self-awareness. I feel bad for her, because more than likely he’s going to have to continue working out his issues with her / hopefully not on her and that’s kind of exhausting.
I love me some top 40 and this new album does nothing for me. Good luck Zayn.
My first love was like this… I ended up very isolated and being a full time careteaker to a hot mess of a man. I learned my lesson and I hope she will too. Get a partner, not a child.
It’s called emotional labour and women have to stop doing that: if your boyfriend needs you to book his dentist appointment and remind him his meeting/duties or whatever, he needs a personal assistant, not a girlfriend. And then he is going to drop her for a more « fun » and « spontaneous » woman (disclaimer: like she was at the beginning of the relationship, before taking care of your ass)
I guess I’m gonna take up for Zayn a little. I love all his music, especially the covers, the original Urdu tune on Mind of Mine, the newest Bollywood cover, so musically at least he’s not unrealized potential. He does seem a mess, but they all get asked about 1D. The others are just smart enough to say something bland and move on. Zayn is oddly bitter and needs help, not from an enabler but from a professional. I hope he gets it. He breaks my heart—and would no doubt be awful to deal with as a friend or otherwise. Also, still handsome, even with all the tats and being skinny. To each his own.