What happened between Zayn Malik and Yolanda Hadid? 2021 drama explained as singer opens up on the incident in recent interview

In a recent podcast interview, British singer Zayn Malik of One Direction fame finally broke his silence on his alleged altercation with his ex-partner Gigi Hadid’s mother, Yolanda Hadid. For the unversed, in October 2021, the Pillowtalk singer pleaded a no-contest plea to four counts of harassment charges against him for allegedly grabbing and shoving Yolanda during a heated argument.

In a recent episode of Spotify's Call Her Daddy podcast, Zayn was asked by host Alex Cooper about the 2021 incident and why he took the “high road,” to which he replied with:

“Your family issues. Like if something happens in the family, like, I’d rather keep that between the family.”

He further clarified that if the altercation was as bad as people speculated, he would not havebeen given 50 percent custody of his daughter Khai, whom he shares with Gigi. Interestingly, this recent appearance was Zayn Malik’s first public interview in six years.

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“I believe I dealt with it in the best way”: Zayn Malik opens up about his 2021 dispute with Yolanda Hadid

As per Page Six, court papers from 2021 report that Zayn Malik “grabbed and shoved her [Yolanda Hadid] into a dresser causing mental anguish and physical pain” and even uttered “lewd, lascivious, threatening, or obscene words.”

While the Vibes singer denied causing any physical assault, he entered a no-contest plea to all the charges of harassment against him and even fulfilled 360 days of probation, followed by attending reform programs for anger management and domestic violence issues, as per the Pennsylvania Court’s advice. The 30-year-old singer was also asked to stay away from Yolanda, Gigi Hadid, and the security guard who was involved in the incident.

On Wednesday’s episode of the Spotify podcast Call Me Daddy with Alex Cooper, Zayn Malik finally opened up about his 2021 dispute with Yolanda Hadid. The 30-year-old stated:

“You don’t need a whole audience of people and opinions, because it’s hard enough to manage between two [him and Gigi].”

He also continued by saying that if the altercation was indeed as bad as people made it out to be, he would never have half custody of his 2-year-old daughter Khai, whom he shares with Gigi:

“I’m super full-on, hands-on with my child every chance I can be. If I could get 60 percent [custody], I would have it.”

As for why he stayed silent for so long, he said that he doesn’t like to get involved in online chatter, be it about him or someone else.

“For me, my most valuable thing that I have in life is time.”

The singer added that he likes to stay away from all kinds of “toxic environment” as much as possible, and does not like to explain or justify himself to people, rather preferring to keep to himself. Furthermore, he explained how he and the people involved knew what had happened, and that was all he cared about.

Zayn went on to say on record that he didn’t want to bring attention to anything and if only people looked at the situation the way he did, they would understand and respect his decisions:

“I just wasn’t trying to get into a negative back-and-forth with her [Gigi].”

Zayn Malik also clarified how he did things thinking about the future and didn’t want to leave behind any negative narrative online for his little girl to look back on someday and “read into it.” He wrapped up by saying:

“I believe I dealt with it in the best way - an amicable, respectful way. That’s all that needs to be said.”

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Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid were in an on-and-off relationship from 2015 to 2021 and finally broke up following the altercation incident. Back then, the Pillowtalk singer maintained complete silence on the matter, while Gigi’s spokesperson said on her behalf that the model was solely focused on their daughter Khai and demanded complete privacy.

The ex-couple's daughter was born in September 2020.