In one of the most revealing interviews of his solo career, Zayn Malik sat down with Alex Cooper on the Call Her Daddy podcast this week, offering a candid look at his personal life, his approach to fatherhood, his views on past relationships and his place in the world now as an artist and parent.
For the former One Direction star, there’s a clear sense of gratitude toward his fans and his music, even if he’s been quiet in the public eye for much of the past decade. In teasers from the episode, he reflected on his career resurgence ahead of his upcoming fifth studio album. On that note, one of the most striking sentiments he shared was a raw acknowledgment of his connection with his audience: he’s “just happy fans still give a sht*” about him and his music — a statement that underscores both humility and relief.
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Have you seen our Zayn episode yet?
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But it was when the conversation turned to his personal life that Malik’s remarks truly grabbed attention. Addressing a past confession — originally made in 2024 on another show — that he didn’t know if he had ever truly been in love, Malik expanded on the comment in a way that’s already dividing fans. “At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I’ve got older, I realised maybe it wasn’t,” he told Cooper, breaking down the evolution of how he understands love itself. “Maybe it was lust, maybe it was this, maybe it was that — I don’t feel like it was love.”
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“My understanding of love is always developing”
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It was a stark and unfiltered reflection on his six-year, on-again off-again relationship with supermodel Gigi Hadid, with whom he shares his five-year-old daughter, Khai. Moving quickly to soften what could be perceived as a cold assessment, Zayn was careful to distinguish respect from romantic love. “I will always love G, because she’s 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 ever in love with her,” he said emphatically.
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“I just feel honored to be her dad” 🥹
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Malik also offered insight into his philosophy on relationships today. Moving forward, he says he’s no longer interested in a public partnership. “It doesn’t work for me,” he explained, suggesting that his best life is one lived away from the constant gaze of social media and paparazzi. That preference for privacy was a repeated theme — one he tied to wanting a stable environment for his daughter and for his own mental well-being.
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We live and we learn
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Fatherhood took up a significant portion of the podcast. Zayn laughed about a recent parenting misstep that turned into media fodder: when Khai lost her first tooth, he told Cooper he left her nearly €590 under her pillow — a decision that drew playful criticism from Hadid. “I think I gave her a bit too much money from the Tooth Fairy,” he said, before joking, “Tooth Fairy’s gone broke now.” Still, his point was earnest: “At the end of the day, I work my ass off and I should be able to give my kid what I want to give her.”
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“I work my ass off, and I should be able to give my kid what I want to give her” 👏
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Throughout the interview, Malik strikes a balance between guarded introspection and genuine vulnerability. Whether he’s unpacking his past, defending his parenting choices, or acknowledging the unpredictable loyalty of his fanbase, he does so with a sincerity that’s rare from someone who has spent most of his adult life in front of the cameras.
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Fave Zayn lyrics??
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As anticipation builds for his upcoming music. Zayn Malik isn’t afraid to confront uncomfortable truths — about love, about fame, and about who he is now versus who he was then. And for him, at least, that honesty is worth sharing with the world.
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👀👀
