1D's Not-So-Secret Beef: Did Harry Styles and Zayn Malik Ever Make Up?
The feud between the band members is what makes the 1D reunion so far-fetched.
Ever since one of the best-selling and most popular boy bands of the century, One Direction, broke up, their massive fan base has been waiting for the news of a reunion, carefully gathering every tiny detail that could point to it.
And while the majority of the former bandmates aren't closing the door on a possible comeback, there is one major issue that will most likely prevent the 1D boys from ever sharing a stage again. At least in the original line-up.
We are, of course, talking about the infamous feud between Harry Styles and Zayn Malik. It was Malik who first quit the band in the middle of their 2015 world tour, citing the stress of massive popularity and the toxic environment in the group, suggesting that all was not well in his relationships with the colleagues.
The news shook the fandom to its core. In the ideal Directioner universe, the 1D boys could only be friends and love each other. But as time went on, new details emerged about the messy relationships within the band.
Zayn shared with US Weekly back in 2017 that while he had been in touch with Niall Horan, Liam Payne, and Louis Tomlinson, Styles was a whole different case.
'To be honest, I never really spoke to Harry even when I was in the band,' Zayn said then. 'So I didn't really expect that much of a relationship with him when I left. And I haven't [had one] to be honest.'
Years later, the reasons for the beef remain a mystery. There is a fan theory that Malik may have been jealous of Styles' solo success. In 2021, Zayn made bashing comments about the Grammys on Twitter after Harry received three nominations.
Whether it was jealousy or something else, it is clear that Harry and Zayn have never made up. Last month, during his first sit-down interview in six years, Malik told Alex Cooper on her Call Her Daddy podcast that relationships within the group were one of the reasons One Direction broke up.
'We'd been together every day for five years, and we'd got sick of each other,' the singer said, without going into much detail about it.
Words like this clearly indicate that Harry and Zayn remain on the outs, and the One Direction reunion seems unlikely at the moment.
Source: US Weekly, Call Her Daddy podcast.