Zayn Malik: I Was Never 'In Love' with Gigi Hadid — 'Maybe It Was Lust' — The $700 Tooth Fairy Interview That Broke the Internet

Zayn Malik just told millions of listeners that his six-year relationship with Gigi Hadid might not have been love at all.

The 33-year-old singer confessed during his 11 February 2026 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast, his first major sit-down interview in nearly six years. Host Alex Cooper asked if he still stood by a 2024 statement he made on The Zach Sang Show, where he admitted he did not know if he had ever truly been in love.

He did not back down. 'Yeah, because my understanding of love is always developing,' Malik said. 'At that moment in time, I might have thought it was love, but as I got older, I realized maybe it wasn't. Maybe it was lust. Maybe it was this, maybe it was that. I don't feel like it was love.'

The Difference Between Loving Someone and Being in Love

Malik was 22. Hadid was 20. They started dating in November 2015, broke up and reconciled multiple times, welcomed daughter Khai in September 2020, and split for good in October 2021.

Looking back, Malik now distinguishes between romantic love and the love he still holds for his daughter's mother. 'To be fair, just to say this on the record, I will always love G, because she is the reason my child is on this Earth, and I have the utmost respect for her,' he told Cooper. 'I will always love her, but I don't know if I was ever in love with her.'

Then came the accountability. 'I don't think I was in love with her at that point,' he added. 'Otherwise, I would have been a better version of myself.'

That last sentence landed hard. No blame. No excuses. Just a man in his thirties looking at his twenties and admitting he could have done better.

A $700 Tooth Fairy and Two Very Different Parenting Styles

The interview's most relatable moment had nothing to do with love. It had to do with teeth.

Malik revealed that when five-year-old Khai lost her first tooth, he left nearly $700 (£500) under her pillow from the tooth fairy. Hadid, according to Malik, was not impressed.

'I think I gave her a bit too much money from the tooth fairy,' he admitted. 'And her mum gave me sh-t about it, and I was like, at the end of the day, I work my a-s off, and I should be able to give my kid what I want.'

Cooper sided with Hadid. 'Hold on, I may have to agree with her mum on this,' he said.

Malik pushed back. 'I was lucky if I got anything for my teeth,' he said, pointing to his upbringing. 'I've worked really hard for everything that I've earned, so I don't feel like I should have to answer for those things.'

He joked that the tooth fairy has since filed for bankruptcy. 'She gets $5 (£3.67) next time. The tooth fairy's gone broke now.'

It's a small story, but it says a lot. Two wealthy, famous parents still disagree over how to raise their kid. That's just parenting.

How Their Relationship Ended

The couple's split in October 2021 was messy.

Hadid's mother, Yolanda, alleged Malik struck her and pushed her into a dresser during an altercation at the family home while Hadid was in Paris. Malik denied the claims but pleaded no contest to four counts of harassment.

He said he wanted to protect his daughter's privacy. 'In an effort to protect that space for her, I agreed not to contest claims arising from an argument I had with a family member of my partner's who entered our home while she was away several weeks ago,' he wrote in a statement.

The relationship was over, but co-parenting had just begun.

Where They Are Now

Hadid, now 30, has been dating actor Bradley Cooper since late 2023. In her March 2025 Vogue interview, she described her relationship with Malik as built on 'love and a feeling of camaraderie.'

'Zayn and I do our custody schedules months in advance,' she said. 'We help each other out and have each other's backs. What we are interested in is raising Khai together, with so much respect for each other.'

Meanwhile, Malik is preparing to release his fifth solo album, 'Konnakol', on 17 April 2026. A UK and North American arena tour follows in May.

For anyone who has looked back on a relationship from their early twenties and wondered if it was really love, Malik's words might hit close to home. Lust and love blur easily at that age. Intensity feels like depth. Passion seems permanent. Sometimes it takes a decade and a daughter to see things clearly.