Zayn Malik has addressed his alleged dispute with his then-girlfriend’s mother Yolanda Hadid in 2021.
The British singer split from Gigi Hadid, the mother of his two-year-old daughter Khai, in September 2021 after he allegedly shoved the model’s mother into a dresser and yelled profanities at her.
Zayn denied striking Yolanda and called the allegations “false” but ultimately “agreed to not contest (the) claims” in effort to protect the “safe and private place” Khai has grown up in.
Reflecting on his public response to the alleged incident, the 30-year-old said on the Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, “I knew what the situation was, I knew what happened and the people involved knew what happened too. That’s all I really cared about. If anybody of a sane mind would look at the situation I believe you could respect that I just didn’t want to bring attention to anything.
“I wasn’t trying to get into a negative back and forth with her or (create) a narrative online where my daughter was going to look back and read that and be able to read into it… There was no point.”
The former One Direction singer noted that he wanted to keep it between the family instead of creating a lot of negativity online.
“I believe I dealt with it in the best way, in an amicable, respectful way and that’s all that needs to be said,” he added. “If something happens in the family, I’d rather keep that between the family – we don’t need a whole audience of people and opinions. It’s hard enough to manage between two.”
Zayn also confirmed that he and Gigi share joint custody of Khai and he does not need to have supervised visits.
“I’m super full on – I’m hands on with my child every chance I can be. If I could have 60% (custody) I’d have it,” he stated.
As for where he stands with the model, Zayn shared, “Co-parenting is good. We have a really good relationship for Khai.”
At the time, the Pillowtalk hitmaker pleaded no contest to four counts of harassment and was given 360 days of probation. He was also ordered to complete an anger management class and a domestic violence program and have no contact with Yolanda.
