Perrie Edwards hints Zayn Malik cheated on her as she reveals ‘hellish’ split and ‘breakdowns’ as she struggled to cope
PERRIE Edwards has laid bare her former heartache over her “hellish” split with boyband singer Zayn Malik.
The Little Mix alum, who started dating the One Direction star in 2012, told of her “breakdowns” following their break-up in 2015.
The pair became engaged prior to calling time on their relationship, yet things ended badly, with Perrie, 32, claiming that Zayn broke up with her via text.
Rumours were also rife that he cheated on the Black Magic singer and the popstar, who now is a mum of two and set to wed fiance Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, has again hinted at infidelity and “overlap” in a new chat on podcast Great Company.
She bravely re-visited her “hellish” heartache in the chat with Made in Chelsea alum Jamie Laing and said of her split with Zayn: “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”.
The Shout Out To My Ex hitmaker then told Jamie she didn’t stay sane in the aftermath of the split and had “serious breakdowns”.
She added: “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”.
In the lengthy chat she hinted at an “overlap” between Zayn and another of his lovers and admitted she “needed to be careful” how to phrase it.
She then referenced his music video for his debut solo single Pillowtalk, which featured supermodel Gigi Hadid, who would go on to be his girlfriend and the mother of his child.
Perrie said: “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.
“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.”
The Sun has gone to Zayn’s rep for comment.
Thankfully, Perrie’s love life is now firmly on the up.
The singer and footballer fiance Alex, both 32, announced their engagement four years ago and share children Axel, four, and Alanis, who was born in January.
Zayn and Gigi dated in 2015 and had an on-off relationship until 2021.
They share daughter Khai, who was born in 2020.