More than a decade after one of pop music’s most talked-about breakups, Perrie Edwards is sharing new details about the end of her relationship with Zayn Malik.
The Little Mix star recently appeared on the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast, where she reflected on the emotional aftermath of her split from the former One Direction singer and spoke candidly about how difficult it was to move on while the entire world seemed to be watching.
Edwards and Malik first met during their time on The X Factor and quickly became one of British pop culture’s most closely followed couples. Their romance lasted nearly four years, culminating in an engagement before the relationship ultimately came to an end.
In the years that followed, Malik moved on with model Gigi Hadid, with whom he would later share daughter Khai. While fans have long speculated about the timeline surrounding those relationships, Edwards now says there was more overlap than many realized.
Looking back, she described the experience as one of the most painful periods of her life.
“When you go through heartbreak, it is hellish,” she said about her split from Zayn. “You feel abandoned, and you don’t feel good enough, and you feel like you’ve been left for something better.”
The singer explained that the emotional impact extended beyond the breakup itself. As one-half of a globally famous celebrity couple, she felt like the public was witnessing her heartbreak in real time.
“And then what makes it even worse is I feel like the world was then looking at me laughing at me,” Perrie continued, noting his breakup experience was probably not as difficult. “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. They’ve met someone better than me.’”
The comments offer a rare glimpse into the emotional reality behind a breakup that generated endless headlines and social media commentary at the time.
For Edwards, one of the most difficult aspects involved seeing her former fiancé begin a highly public new relationship so quickly.
“Let’s just say there was a bit of a — I’m just gonna say it — there was a bit of an overlap,” she said about her ex and Gigi.
The singer then referenced another moment that proved especially painful: seeing Hadid appear in Malik’s music video for “Pillowtalk,” a song widely believed to have been written during the final stages of his relationship with Edwards.
“Then you have a song that they’ve written about you, but then someone else is in the video. It was one thing after the other after the other. I remember finding out about that … it was just the nail in the coffin.”
While much of the conversation focused on her past romance with Malik, Edwards also addressed another relationship that has remained a topic of interest for fans: her friendship with former Little Mix bandmate Jesy Nelson.
The two performers spent nearly a decade together in one of the most successful girl groups of the modern era before Nelson exited the group in 2020.
Asked about where things stand today, Edwards did not shy away from sharing her feelings.
“Sometimes you just don’t win with people,” she said.
She then discussed what she believes was missing from attempts to repair the relationship.
“What upsets me the most is when the other person doesn’t take any accountability,” Perrie went on. “That boils my blood. I’m not blaming everything on you. I’m not saying she’s this f–king monster, and everything was her fault. But take some accountability for your actions and realize you were difficult. You did have difficult moments.”
The singer continued by explaining how emotionally draining she found the situation after years of trying to offer support.
“You can only pick somebody up so many f–king times before you lose track of your own sanity … I thought I’d tried anything,” she continued. “So to then sit there in further interviews and discuss it publicly and be like, ‘I wasn’t supported.’ You were, though.”
Despite those frustrations, Edwards suggested there was a point when she remained hopeful that reconciliation might still be possible.
That changed after Nelson released a documentary discussing her experiences.
“Part of me wanted to until the documentary, and then part of me withdrew again,” Perrie said. “I haven’t got a bad bone in my body, but I can cut you off. I can forgive, but I don’t want you in my space.”
Her comments represent one of her most candid discussions yet about both chapters of her life—one involving a very public romantic heartbreak and another centered on a friendship that helped define an era of pop music.
For Edwards, the common thread appears to be finding peace, setting boundaries, and choosing to move forward, even when some wounds never fully disappear.
