Perrie Edwards felt 'ridiculed' when Zayn Malik moved on quickly after split

Perrie Edwards has claimed there was "a bit of an overlap" between her relationship with Zayn Malik and his new romance with another woman.

The Little Mix star was in a relationship with the former One Direction singer from 2011 until they called off their engagement in August 2015.

During an appearance on Jamie Laing's Great Company podcast, Perrie was asked if the split affected Zayn as much as her, and she then claimed that he quickly moved on with somebody else.

"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," she candidly shared. "And 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,'" she continued. "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."

Perrie appeared to reference the music video for Zayn's debut solo single Pillowtalk, which was released in January 2016 and starred model Gigi Hadid. Zayn and Gigi were first linked in late 2015 and had an on-off relationship until 2021, during which they welcomed a daughter in 2020.

The Forget About Us singer described the video as "the nail in the coffin".

"It was really one thing after the other and there's so much that people don't know about that I would never say, even though I've just spilt some beans, but there's so much that went into it that I would never talk about that I went through," she added.

Discussing the split further, the Tears hitmaker called the breakup "hellish" and "the worst thing in the world" and admitted that she was "embarrassed" because she felt "abandoned" and like the world was "laughing" at her as Zayn moved on.

"I had like serious breakdowns," she confessed. "Because 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."

Perrie has been in a relationship with footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain since 2017. They got engaged in 2022 and have two children.