Perrie Edwards is reopening one of the messiest chapters of her past with Zayn Malik.
The Little Mix singer reflected on the end of her engagement to Malik and his later relationship with Gigi Hadid, suggesting there may have been “a bit of an overlap” between the two romances.
Edwards did not lay out a fully detailed timeline.
But her comments immediately pulled Malik and Hadid’s early relationship back into focus, especially because Edwards said it was harder to move on as the person who felt left behind.
Edwards Said There Was ‘A Bit Of An Overlap’
During an appearance on ‘Great Company With Jamie Laing,’ Edwards said she had to be careful about how she described Malik, Hadid, and the end of her own relationship.
Then she made the comment fans quickly seized on. “There was a bit of a, I’m just going to say it, so, there was a bit of an overlap,” Edwards said.
She explained that moving on can feel easier for the person who is already with someone else. “When you’re moving on with somebody else, you always get on better,” she said. “When you’re the one left behind, that’s what’s hard.”
Edwards said the situation left her comparing herself to the person Malik moved on with. “Because it’s like, ‘Oh no, they’ve left me for someone more beautiful than me, someone better than me,’” she said. “Whatever it is. That’s how it felt at the time.”
‘Pillowtalk’ Made The Timeline Feel Worse
Edwards also pointed to Malik’s ‘Pillowtalk’ era as part of what made the breakup feel so painful.
Malik released the song after leaving One Direction, and Hadid starred in the music video. Their chemistry in the clip became a major pop-culture moment and helped turn them into one of the most talked-about celebrity couples of the time.
For Edwards, the timing was difficult. “Then you have a song that they’ve written about you, and then somebody else is in the video,” she said. “It was one thing after the other, after the other.”
Malik previously said he wrote ‘Pillowtalk’ after leaving One Direction in 2015. When asked who the song was about, he kept the answer vague and said the track was personal, leaving fans to work it out for themselves.
Edwards Has Spoken About The Breakup Before
This is not the first time Edwards has described the end of her relationship with Malik.
In Little Mix’s book ‘Our World,’ released in 2016, Edwards claimed Malik ended their engagement in a brief message. “A four-year relationship, two-year engagement ended by a simple text message,” she wrote. “Just like that.”
Malik has denied ending things that way.
He later reflected on their relationship and said he was young when they got together. Malik was 17 when he first dated Edwards and 21 when they became engaged. “From 17 to 21, I was in a relationship. I was engaged,” he told Nylon. “I didn’t know anything about anything at that point.” He said he thought he understood love and commitment at the time, but later realized he had been too immature.
Edwards Says She Now Has ‘Healthy Love’
Edwards said she is in a much better place now. The singer is engaged to footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and the couple share two children: Axel and Alanis Valentine.
Looking back, Edwards described her relationship with Malik as young love. “You can say it was young puppy love or whatever, and you’re like whisked away with it,” she said.
But she said her current relationship has shown her what healthy love feels like. “Now that I’ve experienced what healthy love is, it’s so nice,” Edwards said. “It doesn’t make you feel sick to your stomach all the time.”
Her comments do not entirely confirm the rumors that have followed Malik, Hadid, and the breakup for years. But they do explain why the old timeline still matters to Edwards.
For fans who remember the Little Mix and One Direction era, her “overlap” comment was enough to reopen the whole scandal.
