The
22-year-old singer has made the decision to bow out of the chart-topping
boyband One Direction leaving Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Liam Payne and Louis
Tomlinson to continue as a four-piece.
Zayn
said in a statement released to MailOnline on Wednesday afternoon: '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 apologise to the fans if I've let anyone down, but I have to
do what feels right in my heart. He continued: '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. I know I have four friends for life in Louis, Liam, Harry
and Niall. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world.'
One Direction said in a second statement
released to MailOnline: 'We're really sad to see Zayn go, but we totally
respect his decision and send him all our love for the future. 
Zayn's
lifestyle did bring perks though with the documentary also showing how Zayn bought
his mother a lavish new home, with Trisha shown calling her son in floods of
tears and telling him: 'I know you always used to say "I'll get you a
house when you're older." Thank you for what you've done for us. I'm so
proud of you.'
One
Direction also led Zayn to love, with the star meeting his fiancee Perrie
Edwards on the set of The X Factor, where she was a finalist with Little Mix on
series eight.
The young
couple's romance was rocked though in February 2013 by claims that Zayn had
cheated on Perrie with Australian waitress Courtney Webb. According to reports
Courtney was a £500-a–hour stripper who spent five months working at a London
strip club performing private dances and fully-nude private sessions. She took
pictures of the singer while he slept, which went public. But Perrie stood by
her man.
A couple
of months later Zayn proved his love for his lady when he got a tattoo of
Perrie as a cartoon on his arm. She was touched by the gesture and said at the
time: 'It must be love to be honest. When I'm away from him, I guess he can
just take a look at his arm and remind him of me. So it's a lovely compliment
really. I love it, it's lovely. It's a cartoon version of me so it's a little
caricature so it's cool.'
And in
the ultimate sign of commitment, Zayn popped the question in August 2013,
breaking girls' hearts everywhere - when the news was revealed as Perrie
stepped out at the One Direction This Is Us world premiere in London wearing a
huge sparkler.
In 2014, One Direction became the richest boyband in world history, with a combined wealth of more than £70million.
Each
member of the group - Zayn Malik, Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson and
Niall Horan - have amassed an eye-watering personal wealth of £14million each,
according to The Sunday Times’ list of richest musicians aged 30 and under,
which was released in May 2014.
The
band's record label boss, music mogul Simon Cowell, 55, saw his fortune grow to
£300million, partly thanks to the worldwide success of One Direction.
Sunday
Times Rich List editor Ian Coxon said at the time: ‘The group performed 136
shows in 78 cities in 2013, which generated box office revenues of $114million.
They played to total audiences of just under 1.5million people.
'They’ve
had top-selling albums, sell-out tours, DVDs, a book and they have even endorsed
a perfume. There hasn’t been another boyband who have made so much money so
quickly.
'Whether
they will carry on at the same rate is anybody’s guess.'
One
Direction made history this year thanks to their four studio albums - Up All
Night, Take Me Home, Midnight Memories and Four - debuting at the top of the
Billboard 200 chart.
To date,
the band has sold more than 50 million records world wide.
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