Zayn Malik reveals he had eating disorder while in One Direction

Zayn Malik has revealed he had an eating disorder while performing with One Direction two years ago.

In excerpts from his new book, the 23-year-old says seeing pictures from 2014 makes him realise “how ill” he was.

“Something I’ve never talked about in public before, but which I have come to terms with since leaving the band, is that I was suffering from an eating disorder,” he writes.

“It wasn’t as though I had any concerns about my weight or anything like that.

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES
Image caption,
This photo was taken in November 2014, around the time Zayn says he was experiencing an eating disorder

“I’d just go for days – sometimes two or three days straight – without eating anything at all.

“It got quite serious, although at the time I didn’t recognise it for what it was.”

It’s not clear from the extracts published in The Sun whether Zayn had an official diagnosis, or got medical treatment for his condition.

He quit One Direction in March last year, having missed out on a number of appearances with the rest of the band due to stress.

Since then he has launched his own solo career, releasing his first album Mind of Mine in March and has started dating Gigi Hadid.

“I think it was about control. I didn’t feel like I had control over anything else in my life, but food was something I could control, so I did,” he says.

“I had lost so much weight I had become ill.

“The workload and the pace of life on the road put together with the pressures and strains of everything going on within the band had badly affected my eating habits.”

IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES

Zayn also describes how anxiety has forced him to cancel big solo gigs.

“The idea of it totally freaked me out and I was paralysed with anxiety,” he explains.

“The plan is to start performing smaller venues and work my way up from there.

“This anxiety isn’t going to get the better of me.”