Shutterstock (2)
Zayn Malik Opens Up About Alleged Yolanda Hadid Incident in Rare Interview: ‘A Lot of Negativity’
Looking back. Zayn Malik opened up about the alleged fight he got into with Yolanda Hadid during a rare interview.
Zayn, 30, made headlines in 2021 when he allegedly shoved Yolanda, 59, during a verbal altercation. At the time, Zayn and Yolanda’s daughter Gigi Hadid were living at the former Bravo star’s Pennsylvania home as they raised their daughter, Khai.
The former One Direction member denied accusations of striking Yolanda during the altercation, while he pleaded no contest to four counts of summary harassment.
“I don’t tend to get involved when people say things online, whether it’s got something to do with me or whether it doesn’t. Because for me, my most valuable thing that I have in life is time, and that takes so much time,” Zayn said while reflecting on the incident during his appearance on the Wednesday, July 12, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “In a toxic environment to, like, explain yourself to people and justify this. And so I just kind of keep to myself.”
He continued, “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. If anybody, you know, of a sane mind would look at the situation, I believe that you could respect that.”
“I just didn’t want to bring attention to anything, you know? I just wasn’t trying to get into a negative back and forth with her,” the “Better” singer added about why he didn’t comment on the incident at the time. “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 was – there was no point. I believe I dealt with it in in the best way, in like an amicable, respectful way and that’s all that needs to be said. Yeah, just I feel like it’s a lot of negativity.”
Zayn then stood by his decision to keep “family issues” out of the spotlight.
“If something happens in the family, like I’d rather keep that between the family, you know,” the England native told host Alex Cooper. “You don’t need a whole audience of people and opinions, because it’s hard enough to manage between two.”
Zayn and Gigi, 28, split in October 2021 following the incident. However, they are now on good terms as they raise Khai, 2.
“Coparenting is good,” he told Alex about his current relationship with the model. “We have a really good relationship for Khai. She’s … the main importance.”
Zayn then revealed that he chooses not to work when he’s taking care of his daughter.
“I have her 50 percent of the time, so that time I have with her is so important because I feel like she’s growing up so fast,” he explained. “So when I’m with her, I don’t work at all. I just spend a full day with her doing the things like painting, playdough, this, that. Go to the park, go to the theme park, go to the zoo. We just have fun.”
Have a tip? Send it to us! Email In Touch at contact@intouchweekly.com.
