Perrie Edwards reveals she had ‘serious breakdowns’ after ‘hellish’ split from ex fiancé Zayn Malik and claims there was ‘overlap’ with someone else as she addresses Pillowtalk music video
Perrie Edwards has revealed she had ‘serious breakdowns’ after her ‘hellish’ split from her ex fiancé Zayn Malik.
In a fairytale girl band-boy band romance, the Little Mix star, 32, dated the former One Direction star Zayn, 33, from 2011 till 2015.
The couple announced their engagement in August 2013, both aged 20, yet their love bubble was short lived and they announced their split two years later to the month.
Now, over a decade later, Perrie has opened up about the split in her most candid interview yet as she admitted there was an ‘overlap’ between Zayn ending things and being involved with someone else and referenced his first solo music video Pillowtalk, which featured Gigi Hadid.
Appearing on the latest episode of Jamie Laing‘s Great Company podcast, the host asked Perrie what the hardest part of being in Little Mix was.
Perrie explained: ‘I think our personal lives being everywhere. Like that was a lot. And it was a lot to deal with because it wasn’t normal.’
Perrie Edwards has revealed she had ‘serious breakdowns’ after her ‘hellish’ split from ex fiancé Zayn Malik and claims there was ‘overlap’ with someone else in new podcast interview
Delving into the heartbreak the star went on: ‘Like when you go through heartbreak, it is hellish. It’s the worst thing in the world. You can’t eat. You can’t sleep. You feel horrendous.
‘You feel abandoned and you don’t feel good enough and you feel like you’ve been left for something better or whatever it is.
‘And then what makes it even worse is, I felt like the world was then looking at me, laughing at me.
‘Not my fans, my fans were like, “we love you, we’ll fight your corner no matter what.” But I felt embarrassed. I felt horrified. It was awful.’
Jamie asked: ‘How do you stay sane through that?’ as Perrie confessed: ‘I didn’t. I had like serious breakdowns.
‘Because it wasn’t just the heartbreak I was dealing with. I was dealing with everybody looking at me and I felt ridiculed. I just couldn’t cope with it.
‘I hated it. I was breaking down in performances, which isn’t like me at all. I was breaking down. I was crying constantly. I think I was depressed.
‘And I know it sounds ridiculous, but I think it was this plus, this plus, this and everything on top.
‘I had to be there for the girls. I had to be switched on. I had to power through for Little Mix, but I also just wanted to be left the f**k alone. But I also was getting followed every two seconds and asked about it 24/7.
‘It was everywhere. And it was a lot. And like, this is the thing when people are like, “stop talking about it,” I’m like, “but it really affected me.”‘
As Jamie asked if she thinks the break up affected Zayn as badly, Perrie then revealed that he moved on quicker and there was an ‘overlap’.
She candidly explained: ‘I need to be careful how I say this, but there was, let’s just say there was a bit of a… I’m just going to say it. So there was a bit of an overlap.
‘And I think when you’re moving on with somebody else you always get on better.
‘When you’re the one left behind, that’s when it’s hard because it’s like, “Oh s**t, they’ve left me for someone more beautiful than me, someone better than me.”
‘Whatever it is, that’s how it felt at the time. And then you have a song that they’ve written about you, but then someone else is in the video.’
Claiming there was an ‘overlap’ she said: ‘I just remember finding out about that and it was like the nail in the coffin and I thought this is all getting a bit much’
The Pillowtalk music video starred Gigi Hadid with the steamy visuals followed by a flirty online exchange, leading many to believe that their friendship was anything but platonic
After Zayn and Perrie split, he then went on to date model Gigi Hadid, with them first being linked in late 2015 after attending Justin Bieber’s American Music Award’s after-party.
A source told US Weekly in November 2015 that while they weren’t ‘boyfriend and girlfriend’ yet, they were definitely into each other.
Then when he released his first single, Pillowtalk, the video starred Gigi with the steamy visuals followed by a flirty online exchange, leading many to believe that their friendship was anything but platonic.
Perrie continued: ‘It was one thing after the other, after the other. And I remember finding out about that and I just went in and my dad and my brother were at the house at the time and I just moved into my little bungalow in Surrey. So I was trying to get as far away as I could.
‘And I just remember finding out about that and it was like the nail in the coffin and I thought this is all getting a bit much and then I started crying my eyes out.
‘Then my dad started crying and he was like “I don’t know how I can take this pain away” and I’m like “you can’t nobody can this is hellish.”
‘It was really one thing after the other and there’s so much that people don’t know about that I would never say, even though I’ve just spilt some beans but there’s so much that went into it that I would never talk about that I went through.
‘It was real hard. So that’s probably why I get a bit frustrated at times.’
Jamie then asked: ‘How did it change your understanding of love?’
‘It made me realize that that was very unhealthy,’ replied Perrie. ‘And I mean, you can say it was young puppy love or whatever, and you’re like whisked away with it.
‘And I think now that I’ve experienced what healthy love is, with Alex. It’s so nice it doesn’t make you feel sick to your stomach all the time it doesn’t make you feel icky.
‘It doesn’t make you feel like you’re not worthy or you’re not good enough or you could be doing everything better and you know it doesn’t feel competitive it doesn’t feel toxic. Like that’s exactly what I would say it was.’
The Daily Mail have contacted Zayn’s representatives for comment.
After their split, Zayn went on to date model Gigi, and the pair made their red carpet debut at the Met Gala in 2016.
Perrie previously claimed that Zayn ended their relationship over text message, which he has denied.
He previously told Fader magazine: ‘I have more respect for Perrie than to end anything over text message.
‘I love her a lot, and I always will, and I would never end our relationship over four years like that.
Perrie appeared on Jamie Laing’s Great Company podcast in her most candid interview yet
‘She knows that, I know that, and the public should know that as well. I don’t want to explain why or what I did.’
Zayn and Gigi went on to welcome a daughter together, however the pair called it quits in 2021 after Zayn got into an altercation with Gigi’s mother Yolanda Hadid.
The singer pleaded no contest to the charges after allegedly pushing his former partner Gigi Hadid’s mother into a dresser and calling her a ‘f*****g Dutch sl*t’ in September 2021.
Meanwhile Perrie got engaged to her fiancé Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in 2022 and the pair share son Axel, four, and daughter Alanis, four months.
