Perrie Edwards shares why breakup with Zayn was so “hellish”

“I felt like the world was then looking at me, laughing at me”

Perrie Edwards has spoken candidly about her split from Zayn Malik and said that she found it “hellish” at the time.

The former Little Mix star was in a relationship with the ex- One Direction singer from 2012, having met while competing on the eighth season of The X Factor . They were engaged for two years, before splitting in 2015.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Great Company podcast with Jamie Laing, Edwards opened up about the split for one of the first times and said that it led to her feeling “abandoned”.

“When you go through heartbreak, it is hellish,” she said. “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.”

She also opened up about how Zayn started a relationship with model Gigi Hadid shortly after they separated, and likely had an easier time with the split being in the public eye.

“What [made] it even worse is I felt like the world was then looking at me, laughing at me,” she shared. “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 shit, they’ve left me for someone more beautiful. They’ve met someone better than me.’”

Zayn and Hadid dated on and off for around six years and welcomed a daughter in 2020, before breaking up the following year. The model also featured in the video for his hit solo single ‘ Pillowtalk ’.