Perrie Edwards opens up about 'toxic' relationship with ex-fiancé Zayn Malik

Perrie Edwards looked back at her previous relationship with ex-fiancé Zayn Malik, describing how it was "a little bit toxic."

In her interview on Paul Brunson's We Need To Talk podcast, the Tears singer recalled how "refreshing" it was when she first met Malik, where they were both in the early days of their careers as pop stars.

"It was pretty easy at first, it seemed," she said, "and then I think it got more difficult, obviously, as it went on."

She noted that while she had little boyfriends at school, she said that the former One Direction member was her first true love.

"We were engaged to be married, so clearly we had feelings for each other," said Perrie. She added that her previous romance with the Pillowtalk singer has shaped her views on relationships in a way that "wasn't ideal."

"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,'" she noted.

"And then when I became single, I was almost thinking, ‘I never, ever want to go through that again.’ I didn’t even want to meet anybody,” she said. “I was like, ‘That’s me, done.’ I don’t think I could bear that pain. The pain of heartbreak is so grim, that I remember thinking, 'I’m done with men forever,'" she added.

Aside from the heartbreak, Edwards also lamented how she navigated their breakup in 2015, especially since their romance was public, saying she "felt embarrassed."

"I'd never navigated heartbreak, let alone having everyone criticize it in the public eye. I think I felt embarrassed. I felt weird. I was really sad. And it was just like going through all these emotions and going through it with everyone staring at me," she said. "It was mortifying."

She credited her fellow Little Mix members Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Jesy Nelson, who left the group in December 2020, for helping her get through the "difficult time."

"There were times when the girls would just huddle around me. Or there [were] times Leigh-Anne was doing crazy dances in the street just to distract from me ‘cause it was getting a lot. It was too much," she said. "If it wasn't for [Little Mix], I really would have struggled," she added.