Last night One Directions Zayn Malik broke the internet when he announced he was leaving boy band, One Direction, for good whilst the rest of the 1D band members were on their Asian leg of their tour.
The only engaged member of the band declared last week that he was leaving the Asian leg of the tour due to ‘stress’ as he jetted back to England after the onset of tabloid speculation that he was cheating on fiancée Perrie Edwards.
It’s been reported that Zayn and Perrie have not left eachother’s side since the 22-year-old returned home, last week.
It is reported that although Zayn’s statement reflected his true feelings and he is really taking some time off ‘to be a normal 22-year old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight”, the real reason he left the band was so that he could eventually go solo after his time off. It has also recently been revealed that Zayn’s exit has been discussed for a while now, but that it was planned to take place after their world tour. So this came as shock to the rest of the band as much as it was a shock to the fans.
Harry was seen crying on stage during their performance last night and Lois put his arm around an imaginary Zayn as Liam comforted an emotional Harry.
After the show, Harry and Liam were the first band members to take to twitter commenting on Zayn’s decision, tweeting:
Zayn loves his music and he hopes for a more low-key future; being in the band, it’s reported, just became too much for the ‘Steal your girl’ heart throb.
Rumour has it that Harry is the next member of the boy band to be planning to go solo, however, a spokesperson for the band has slammed this rumour and claimed it as untrue. Let’s hope it is false, we don’t know if our hearts can handle any more heartache.
UPDATE: Zayn CONFIRMS his plan was to go solo.
Opening up in an interview with The Sun a mere 6 hours after saying he wanted to be “out of the spotlight”, the 22-year-old Brit confirmed his plans to “be myself for a bit. Write and relax and chill.”
Zayn was seen hitting the recording studio in London the very next day after his announcement of leaving One Direction, with reports that the singer’s first solo hit is already in the works with chart topping producer, Naughty Boy.
Initially, Zayn had claimed that he wanted to spend some time ‘being normal’ but he later revealed that he in fact stayed with the band for the fans, ‘You know, I did try to do something that I wasn’t happy doing for a while, for the sake of maybe other people’s happiness. And that was mainly the fans.’
Stay tuned for more One Direction updates. In the meantime, we can’t wait to see the boys perform in SA this weekend!