Zayn's new direction: After five years in the public eye, it's no wonder shy Malik quit 1D

AFTER five years of living under a microscope, coping with a gruelling schedule and never seeing his family, no wonder the shyest member of 1D craves a return to normality.

Zayn Malik singingREX

Zayn Malik has quit One Direction after five years

In just five years Zayn Malik went from being a 17-year-old boy whose most significant singing experience was as part of a school choir to a key member of the biggest band in the world with an estimated personal fortune of £15million.

Yesterday though he left One Direction and the five members became four.

In a statement released on Facebook he said: “I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight.”

While this may have come as a shock to some of the band’s millions of dedicated followers it was something that had long been on the cards.

Indeed Zayn almost never went to the X Factor audition in 2010 that launched the band.

His mother Trisha revealed in 2013 that he was so racked with nerves he almost “chickened out”.

He sailed through the first audition but wavered when he was later asked to dance, complaining that he felt “like an idiot”.

It was only the reassurance of Simon Cowell that brought him back on stage and it was Cowell alongside fellow judge Nicole Scherzinger who formed One Direction, turning five rejected solo hopefuls into the band that would go on to finish third in that year’s competition.

From the beginning Zayn was always the least comfortable about his newfound fame, often acknowledged as the “Mysterious One”.

While Harry (the sexy one), Louis (the funny one), Niall (the nice one) and Liam (the responsible one) all settled into their new lifestyles Zayn has always remained the same Bradford boy more interested in drawing and going to Nando’s than appearing in concerts, on the front of magazines or on chat shows.

He grew up the son of a white working class mum and a Pakistani-British father in the East Bowling area of Bradford.

One DirectionREX

One Direction have announced that they will continue without Zayn as a foursome

A committed Muslim he has read the Koran a number of times and his mother, who converted to the faith in order to marry his father, always ensured that Zayn and his three sisters went to the Mosque regularly.

Harry Styles’ stepfather memorably said that he went “to an audition and never came home”.

The situation is little different for the Malik family who have all struggled to cope with the long periods One Direction spend on the road.

In the band’s 2013 documentary This Is Us, Zayn’s mum tells of how she texts her son good night every evening and was finding it increasingly difficult whenever he left on tour.

The family also struggled with the intrusion of the One Direction publicity machine, even when Zayn bought his family a new house the cameras were on hand to capture him handing over the keys.

His Muslim background has also been a source of angst.

He had a difficult time at school where he was marked out as different because of his mixed heritage.

Since joining One Direction expressions of his faith on social media including mentions of Ramadan and photographs he shared of his family celebrating the festival of Eid have been met with vitriolic online abuse.

Zayn Malik and Perrie EdwardsREX

Zayn Malik and fiancee Perrie Edwards, who is being blamed by angry fans for the 1D split

Zayn’s love life has also suffered from relentless speculation, not helped by his relationships with other high-profile singers.

In 2011 he dated his fellow X Factor contestant Rebecca Ferguson who was not only six years older than him but the mother of two children.

Both of them later chose to use the media to discuss publicly the break down of the relationship.

In late 2011 Zayn began dating Perrie Edwards, a member of the girl band Little Mix and another of his X Factor contemporaries.

After waiting several months before going public, the highs and lows of their relationship have since been conducted in the public eye.

In February 2013 he was accused of cheating on her after Australian waitress and stripper Courtney Webb took pictures of asleep him in bed.

Six months later he popped the question.

Edwards said yes but what may have seemed like domesticated bliss – ideal for a man who craves normality despite his remarkable fame – did nothing to lessen Zayn’s public exposure.

In 2014 he was caught on camera smoking what appeared to be marijuana with bandmate Louis while on tour in Peru.

Millions of the band’s young fans – and their parents – were appalled at what they had done.

The pair paid a heavy price for their mistake with fans cutting up tickets to the band’s concerts and their bandmate Liam making a grovelling public apology on Twitter.

For this intensely private man a youthful mistake had become international news.

A similar thing occurred last week when photographs surfaced of him with his arm around the waist of 19-year-old Lauren Richardson and in another appearing to hold her hand.

It was these pictures and speculation about the state of his relationship with Edwards that prompted Zayn to quit One Direction’s sold-out world tour citing stress.

He made the departure permanent yesterday.

A source close to the group said: “Zayn always found it tougher than the rest of the band dealing with fame.

"Having his every movement scrutinised caused great anxiety."

Furious fans have blamed Perrie for the decision branding her the “new Yoko Ono”.

Others were so distressed they took to Twitter to share images of self-harm using the hashtag #Cut4Zayn.

Being the object of such obsessive devotion would be difficult for anybody let alone a quiet and private man of just 22 years of age who has spent almost a quarter of his life on the boyband treadmill.

With the lengthy touring schedule, lack of privacy and regimented lifestyle that membership of One Direction entails it is not that difficult to blame Zayn for going his own way. 

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