Zayn Malik Officially Quits One Direction: Singer Wants to Be "A Normal 22-Year-Old Again"

By Ashwin Subramania - 25 Mar '15 15:15PM

Zayn Malik has decided to part ways with popular boy band 'One Direction' saying he wants a chance to be "a normal 22-year old again." He made the announcement on the band's official Facebook page on Wednesday.

Malik withdrew from the band's world tour 'On the Road Again' last week citing 'stress' and returned to the UK. The singer also had to recently respond to allegations of cheating on his fiancée Perrie Edwards after pictures emerged of him being close to another woman.

On his decision to quit, Malik said, "My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined. But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band. I'd like to apologize to the fans if I've let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right in my heart. I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight."

Malik assured fans that there were no ill feelings between him and rest of the band members.

He went on to add, "I know I have four friends for life in Louis (Tomlinson), Liam (Payne), Harry (Styles) and Niall (Horan]). I know they will continue to be the best band in the world."

Malik has always had difficulty dealing with the repercussions of being famous. A source close to the band since their X Factor days told People's magazine, "Pretty quickly after Zayn got into the X Factor machine he realized that he didn't actually want to be famous and he was quite happy to hide behind the other boys."

"He finds the fame more difficult to deal with than the others," added the source. "Zayn finds the fact that everyone is looking at him all the time a bit much - and he has for years. Even at the start of the band he was finding it really hard to deal with the constant intrusion."

Malik initially joined X Factor UK as a solo artist in 2010. After being eliminated in the completion, popular judge Simon Cowel decided to bring together Horan, Tomlinson, Malik, Payne and Styles to form 'One Direction'.