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Zayn Malik is opening up about his past relationship with Gigi Hadid.
The "Die for Me" musician appeared as a guest on Wednesday's (February 11) episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast where he made a rare confession about his time with the supermodel. The former couple dated off an on for five years before splitting in 2021 and share 5-year-old daughter Khai, per E! News.
While he explained that he still has a "crazy amount" of love for his ex, Malik said he doesn't think he was in love with her, "otherwise I would have been a better version of myself."
"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," he said. "I will always love her, but I don't know if I was in love with her."
The One Direction alum admitted that at the time he was with Hadid, he did think his feelings ran deeper, but over the years, his "understanding of love" continued to evolve.
"At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I got older I realized maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was lust. Maybe it was this, maybe it was that. I don't feel like it was love."
Years after their split, Malik has discovered how "freeing" it can be to be single, adding that he doesn't "find being alone scary."
"No disrespect to all the past relationships I've been in," he said. "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 freeing to me. I could just do things, make plans. Sleep until any time I want."
For her part, Hadid has sparked a romance with someone new. She has been linked to Bradley Cooper since 2023 and the pair are reportedly very "serious. A source told the Daily Mail in December that they are planning the next step in their relationship after the Maestro actor allegedly asked the model's mother Yolanda Hadid for her daughter's hand in marriage.