Liam Payne has made his feelings clear about Zayn Malik as he admits there are “many reasons why I dislike” him.
The Strip That Back hitmaker, 28, had zero filter when discussing his former One Direction bandmate with controversial YouTube Logan Paul in a new interview.
Paul recalled a spat between his brother Jake and Payne’s former bandmate Malik in 2020 which ended with the singer’s then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid calling Jake “ugly and irrelevant” in a tweet.
This prompted Payne to reply: “Then she tweeted something about ‘get yourself a respectful man’ or something – that one didn’t age very well.”
Payne did not clarify his comment but continued: “Before we go too deep into this, there’s many, many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side.
“If I had had to go through what he went through his growth and whatever else... My parents are overly supportive to the point where it’s annoying at times, and Zayn had a different upbringing in that sense.
“You can always look at the man for where he is and say ‘oh yeah, whatever, that guy’s a d***,’ but at the end of the day once you understand what he’s been through to get to the point, and whether or not if he he actually even wanted to be there...
“But what I can say is that I understand, and you only hope that some point in their life, the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help you’re willing to give.”
Payne and Malik both shot to fame in the chart-topping boyband after it was originally formed during TV singing contest The X Factor back in 2010.
Malk quit the group in 2015, with a statement claiming he wanted to “live a normal life”.
The remaining members - including Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan - went on to produce music for another year without him.
They eventually announced they would be taking a hiatus in January 2016.
The Standard has contacted a representative for Zayn Malik for comment.
