The 1D star shrugged off controversy after a US interviewer asked his bandmates if he was struggling with a drug problem - pals say he prefers the quiet life
One Direction’s Zayn Malik desperately wants to spend more time out of the limelight and with his Little Mix fiancée Perrie Edwards, writes Katie Hind in the Sunday People .
The last thing he wanted was to be at the centre of a row when a US interviewer asked if he had a drugs problem.
Zayn, 21, had sung with 1D on Bob Geldof’s latest Band Aid single last week but failed to join bandmates in the US to promote their new album.
His absence prompted Today show’s Matt Lauer to ask if it was related to drugs.
He said to 1Ds: “A lot of fans have been tweeting overnight. Is it something more serious?
“There are rumours of substance abuse. What’s going on?”
1D fans were furious and Zayn said: “I’m really angry and upset by what was said on the Today show. I was really ill at the weekend. That’s why I couldn’t fly to America.”
But sources said he is eager to live more privately.
Watch Zayn's first public appearance after the drugs row:
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When the band was interviewed on another US show, Zayn barely spoke a word and looked fed-up.
When asked which group member was most likely to vanish for two days without telling the others, they all said it would be Malik.
And he agreed. Zayn and Perrie, 21, had been inseparable since 1D finished their gruelling world tour last month.
But touring commitments start again next year.
Friends say fame and money mean “nothing” to Muslim Zayn and instead he wants to marry the Little Mix star and have children – quietly.
But Zayn will not be able to quit the chart-topping group until they all decide to call it a day.
An insider said: “Zayn is fed up with the whole fame thing. He loves singing and his fans but he just wants a quiet life now. He has become increasingly disappointed with the little amount of time he can spend with Perrie.
“Unfortunately she is in a band too, they have so little time together.
“Zayn appreciates how lucky he is, but life is about family for him and he is seeing too little of his loved ones.”
