Zayn Malik Speaks Out After Leaving One Direction

Zayn Malik has spoken out for the first time since leaving One Direction, saying he’s doing “what’s right.”

The 22-year-old singer chatted with Britain’s The Sun about his departure and if he might ever return to the world’s biggest boy band.

“I’m feeling quite interesting,” he told the paper. “It is crazy and wild and a bit mad. But at the same time I’ve never felt more in control in my life. And I feel like I’m doing what’s right, and right by myself and right by the boys, so I feel good.”

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As for Zayn’s plan – he’s just wants to be Zayn.

“Just to kind of be myself for a bit,” he said when asked about what’s ahead.

The singer, who said there are no tensions between him and the other members of One Direction, explained that he’d been unhappy for a while.

READ: One Direction Breaks Silence On Zayn Malik’s Departure

“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. And I only ever tried to do it for the fans, and it was only ever for them,” he said. “And basically, I’m only upset I feel like I may have let them down in some sort of way. That’s the main thing that I don’t want to happen. It’s not that I’ve turned my back on them or anything, it’s just that I just can’t do that anymore because it’s not real to me.

“My band has been really supportive. They’ve been really cool about it. And they understand that, you know, it’s not real to me anymore,” he continued. “They still want to do it for a while, so they’re going to carry on doing what they want to do. And I think they’re doing to do OK for a while. I think they’re going to be cool.”

So might Zayn ever return to 1D?

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“I don’t think I can really answer that, really, but, I don’t know,” he told the paper.

— Jesse Spero

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