Zayn Malik: I’ll never deny my One Direction past
Zayn Malik has a wall dedicated to One Direction memorabilia in his house.
The ‘Pillowtalk’ hitmaker – who left the band in March 2015 – says he "will never deny" the time he spent in the boy band and looks back at those years with fondness.
Writing in an excerpt of his eponymous book as obtained by Teen Vogue magazine, he said: "I can honestly say I’m proud of a lot of stuff from the One Direction days. I’m not sure people realise that, but I am. I’ve got the memorabilia – the platinum discs we received with every album – all over my house.
"I have a wall dedicated to displaying the memorabilia. One Direction was an incredible experience in its own right, and it’s a part of me, an integral part of my history, and I’m never going to deny that aspect of my life.
"I got to meet amazing fans, and I can never thank all of them enough for the love and support they gave me during the good times, and the bad."
The 23-year-old singer’s comments come after he admitted he "never felt like he belonged" in One Direction.
Zayn – who is dating model Gigi Hadid – said: "When I decided to leave, it wasn’t a big build up, it had always been underlying. I never felt like I belonged in the group, I was just doing it because at the time, I felt like it was the right place for me to be … To be honest, I mentally and physically distanced myself from what I was doing creatively because I didn’t want any part of it really. It didn’t feel like I was really being me."
