Zayn Malik reveals why he was never 'in love' with Gigi Hadid in rare relationship admission

There's a reason why exes should stay in the past.

Zayn Malik, 33, has opened up on his past relationship with Gigi Hadid, 30, and admitted that while he loves her, he doesn't know if he was never actually 'in love' with her.

For those who need a reminder, the former One Direction star and American super model dated on-and-off for six years from 2015 to 2021, and welcomed a daughter, Khai, in 2020.

They called it quits for good in late 2021 and are now working together to raise the five-year-old despite no longer being in a relationship together.

Fast forward a few years and Zayn is currently single while Gigi is dating actor Bradley Cooper, 51.

Now, as we say, the 'Die for Me' singer discussed his former flame during an appearance on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast yesterday (11 February).

Speaking about his high-profile relationship with Gigi, he admitted: "My understanding of love is always developing.

"At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I’ve got older, I’ve realised maybe it wasn’t. Maybe it was lust. Maybe it was this. Maybe it was that. I don’t feel like it was love."

Zayn and Gigi dated on-and-off for almost six years and share a daughter together (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

He went on to clarify that as the mother of his child, he still loved her, just not in the romantic sense.

The singer said: "'To be fair, just to have this on the record, I will always love G, because she is the reason my child is on this Earth and I have the utmost respect for her.

"I will always love her, but I don’t know if I was in love with her. I do love her a crazy amount, but no, I don’t think I was in love with her at that point. Otherwise I would have been a better version of myself."

Zayn also made it clear that he is 'not looking for a public relationship again', as the past taught him that they 'don't work' for him.

The hitmaker, who also dated and got engaged to former Little Mix star Perrie Edwards between 2012 and 2015, affirmed: "I’m not looking for a public relationship again, and just out of experience, no offence to anybody that I have been in public relationships with before.

"I’ve just learned from it that it don’t work for me. I’m quite a private person. I don’t really strive for people’s approval or attention. So the relationship should really be between me and that person. "

The singer revealed he loves Gigi, but doesn't think he was ever 'in love' with her (YouTube/@callherdaddy)

He added: "And I think that personality type, somebody who doesn’t want to do that, would be more suited to me."

Zayn candidly admitted that he 'used to get into trouble in relationships' in his younger years and now finds being single 'freeing'.

He said: "I don’t find being alone scary. No disrespect to all the past relationships I’ve been in. No disrespect at all, it was freeing.

"I am that type of person who runs on my own clock, answers to myself. So, it was so freeing to me. I could just do things, make plans. Sleep until any time I want.

"I tended to get in trouble in relationships, because I was young, did certain things, spoke to other females when I shouldn’t have been. You live and learn from it, but this way, there’s no guilt."