Perrie Edwards is reflecting on her “toxic” relationship with Zayn Malik. Buckle up…
The Little Mix member appeared on Tuesday’s episode of the We Need To Talk podcast, where she got candid on the topic of a certain “toxic” relationship she was involved in years ago… And how it made her believe that sort of behavior was normal! Without ever actually naming the ex-boyfriend in question, the 32-year-old told host Paul C. Brunson:
“I think definitely at the time I thought everything we experienced in our relationship was normal. Because it was my first relationship, first love. I was like, ‘Oh, this is how it’s supposed to feel. It’s supposed to feel a little bit toxic. In some ways, this is probably normal, right?’”
Perrie and Zayn, of course, started dating in 2012 when they were both around 17 years old. A year later, they got engaged, and then two years after that, in 2015, they called it quits on their relationship. And that was REALLY rough on Perrie:
“And then when I became single, I was almost thinking, like, I never, ever want to go through that again. I didn’t even want to meet anybody. I was like, that’s me done. I don’t think I could bear that pain. But now, reflecting back, I’m thinking, oh, that probably wasn’t good. And I’ve noticed it a lot.”
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But it didn’t take long for her to learn that not all love had to feel like that. In 2016 she met English soccer player Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and he proved just how harmonious a relationship can and should be:
“Like in the start of the relationship, I would handle things differently with Alex, and he’d come at it with such a level head that it would throw me.”
She continued:
“Like, little things might happen, and I’d think, ‘Oh, now he’s going to kick off, he’s not going to like this.’ And I’d be like, ‘Oh, this happened.’ And he’d be like, ‘Alright,’ and it would throw me. He’s very mature. He’s very laid back. He’s very levelheaded. He’s not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things.”
She offered up one specific example about one of the times Zayn and Gigi Hadid broke up — and he reached out to her!
“I remember there was one point my ex reached out and I didn’t know how to handle the situation because I’d been with Alex for, like, a year and a half or two years. And I felt a bit uncomfortable about it, and I remember sweating, and panicking, and thinking, ‘I’ve got to tell [Alex] that.’”
She went on to recall:
“I remember being terrified, thinking, ‘Oh no!’ And then I sat down and I was like, ‘I need to tell you something.’ He was like, ‘Okay, is everything alright?’ I was like, ‘Yes, such and such reached out today and it was really weird.’ And he was like, ‘Saying what?’ So I told him everything. And he’s like, ‘Okay, well, I really appreciate you telling me. Thank you for letting me know. That’s fine. Hopefully he doesn’t contact you again.’ And I was thinking, ‘Kay?’ And that’s that. That was it.”
She added Alex “has always kind of been like that” and that she “needed” that cool, calm, and collected energy in her life.
That’s so great that she found someone who is so level-headed! (And really sad that she didn’t know that existed beforehand!) We bet Alex is a fantastic father to their 3-year-old son, too!
Elsewhere in the podcast, Perrie opened up about feeling bad for her Little Mix bandmates amid her relationship with Zayn because “a lot was made to be about him.” At the time, she thought “everyone was worried that we’re only gonna make it because it’s off the back of One Direction … At the time, it must have been frustrating for the other girls, getting asked about it all the time.”
Yeah, that really must have been tough. A group of young women trying to make it big constantly having their shine directed towards and attributed to a group of dudes? Oof.
You can watch the full podcast episode (below):
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[Images via Zayn Malik/Instagram & We Need To Talk/YouTube]
The post Perrie Edwards Opens Up About ‘Toxic’ Relationship With Zayn Malik: ‘Never, Ever Want To Go Through That Again’ appeared first on Perez Hilton.