There's apparently still some animosity between One Direction's members, particularly toward Zayn Malik.
The boy band famously "took a hiatus" in 2015 to work on solo projects, although Zayn left the group a year prior. In a chat with GQ Hype, Liam Payne was asked if there are still grudges between the five former bandmates.
"Definitely in some part, yeah," he said. "We had our differences throughout the whole experience with some things. I still think about some stuff that was said and done that now I would do differently, but then that's all part of growing up. Being in One Direction was such a schoolyard mentality somehow–the One Direction University, I call it. Everyone has stuff they've said at parties they wished they hadn't but, for us, the difference was that it was all happening in front of the world."
He added, "Now we are older, for me certainly there are things that I am just not as bothered about. I think with Zayn's particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven't really heard from him since he left. He didn't even say goodbye, if I am being honest. It was a really sordid scenario, from our side certainly. A bit strange. It's difficult."
Zayn has said that he struggles with fame, which is why he chooses to largely stay out of the limelight, even living on a rural farm.
"For Zayn, he loves music and he's an amazing talent. He genuinely was the best singer in One Direction, hand on heart, out of all of us," Liam said of his former bandmate. "But for him to get to a point where, you know, he can't step on a stage? It's a lot. I mean, he's doing great. His streaming numbers are ridiculous, but I do think he misses out on the performance side a bit, you know. He can't seem to get past that part."
Despite Zayn's abrupt exit from One Direction, Liam said he wants to reach out to the "Pillowtalk" singer, but he doesn't know how to reach him.
"I didn't want him to feel like he was going through this all alone in some ways, or that we were all out to get him," he said. "We're the only people who know what you're going through. The only five people who know what you are going through were all in a room together once, and you left –fair enough–but you don't want anyone going through such evils for no reason. But it got to a point with me where I wouldn't know where to begin with Zayn. I hope he has good people around him, but I don't at this stage think it's anything the rest of us can solve."