Zayn Malik may have broken a lot of fans' hearts when he announced his departure from One Direction. However, over a year after his exit the 23-year-old says his former band and his experiences with them still hold a special place in his heart. The singer writes deeply about his life in the upcoming Zayn Malik autobiography.
In his first official autobiography, titled "Zayn," the "Pillowtalk" singer reveals that he has an entire wall in his house dedicated to One Direction. He insists that his time and experience with the group is something he will never deny and that he's actually proud of what he, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Niall Horan achieved as a group.
"I can honestly say I'm proud of a lot of stuff from the One Direction days. I'm not sure people realise that, but I am," Zayn writes in the tell-all, MTV quotes. He adds that he keeps the memorabilia, such as the platinum discs they received with every album.
"One Direction was an incredible experience in its own right, and it's a part of me, an integral part of my history, and I'm never going to deny that aspect of my life." His statements come after he previously admitted to not feeling like he belonged in One Direction.
Zayn said in a previous statement that his exit from the group was not out of a blue, but was always underlying. He felt even then that he did not belong to the group and was only committing to it because it felt like the right thing to do at the time.
Aside from his time as a member of One Direction, Zayn also speaks about his battle with anxiety the Zayn Malik autobiography. In an excerpt from his book as serialized by Time, Zayn writes that he went public with his anxiety because it is "nothing to be ashamed of" and that he was acting in behalf of millions of people that get affected by it every day.
"I don't want to say I'm sick. I want to tell people what's going on, and I'm not gonna be ashamed of what's happening," Zayn writes. The Zayn Malik autobiography, titled "Zayn", hits bookstands on Nov. 1