Princess Diana’s death, Steven Bradbury’s heroic gold medal at Salt Lake 2002 – these are moments in time that are cemented so firmly in the public consciousness that many remember the exact place they were and what they were doing when they happened.

For me and thousands – nay, millions – of other then-teenage girls, however, it was something else.

When Zayn Malik left One Direction.

A statement shared to One Direction’s official Facebook page on March 26, 2015 (Australia time) confirmed Zayn Malik was leaving the band. (Graphic: Polly Hanning)

It was in the early hours of an unusually warm Thursday morning in Sydney when a statement shared to the band’s official Facebook page well and truly kicked off the beginning of the end.

“After five incredible years Zayn Malik has decided to leave One Direction,” the missive, shared while the band was in the middle of their fourth and final world tour in March 2015, began.

“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,” Malik – who had exited the Asian leg of the On the Road Again Tour seven days earlier citing “stress” – was quoted as saying.

“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,” Malik 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 [Tomlinson], Liam [Payne], Harry [Styles] and Niall [Horan]. I know they will continue to be the best band in the world.”

“Niall, Harry, Liam and Louis will continue as a four-piece and look forward to the forthcoming concerts of their world tour and recording their fifth album, due to be released later this year.”

This picture, taken in Melbourne in February 2015, would be one of the last times Malik performed with One Direction. (Supplied/The Age)

Just weeks earlier, Malik had journeyed to Australia to open the On the Road Again Tour with One Direction, performing seven shows across Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth.

Australian fans had no idea at the time that it would be the last time he’d perform Down Under as part of one of the biggest boybands in the world.

Why did Zayn Malik leave One Direction?

Malik’s departure from the band, in hindsight, was not shocking. The writing had been on the wall since before Malik had pulled out of the tour, something Malik later acknowledged in his first big interview nine months after he quit.
Malik (right) is pictured here performing at Allianz Stadium in Sydney with One Direction in February 2015. (Fairfax Media)
Speaking with The Fader in December 2015, Malik – who was fresh off the plane home from three months in Los Angeles – said he had been unhappy with One Direction’s musical direction, claiming “there was never any room for [him] to experiment creatively in the band”.

“If I would sing a hook or a verse slightly R&B, or slightly myself, it would always be recorded 50 times until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as f–k, so they could use that version,” he told the publication.

In January 2016, he told Zane Lowe from Apple Music that he had “never really wanted” to be in the band after its formation on The X Factor UK – which he initially auditioned for as a solo act before being put together by Simon Cowell – and that he thought he “always wanted to go, from like the first year, really.”

“I never really wanted to be there, like in the band. I just gave it a go because it was there at the time, and when I realised the direction we were going in – mind the pun – with the music, I instantly realised it wasn’t for me, because I realised I couldn’t put any input in,” Malik told Lowe.

That same month, Malik – who was doing press for his first solo album, Mind of Mine, and its recently released lead single Pillowtalk – said that despite the band denying rift rumours in his leaving statement, he had fallen out of touch with his former bandmates.

“I had every intention of remaining friends with everybody, but I guess certain phone numbers have changed and I haven’t received calls from a lot of people,” Malik told Billboard in January 2016.
One Direction, pictured here in 2012 in Melbourne, was formed by Simon Cowell on The X-Factor UK in 2010. (Supplied/Fairfax Media/John Woudstra)
“I’ve reached out to a few of them and not got a reply. Certain people have pride issues, but it’s stuff you overcome in time,” he said.

His acrimonious relationships with his former bandmates pre- and post-split has been spoken about by Malik, Payne and Tomlinson in interviews – and made clear with barbs exchanged on social media – many times over the years.

“I think with Zayn’s particular exit and the way he chose to go, we haven’t really heard from him since he left,” Payne told GQ in November 2019. “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.”

“We were sad, obviously, that someone had left, but also sad that he was not enjoying it so much that he had to leave,” Styles told New Music Daily that same month.

“Because I think at the time, too, the tour and everything was going so well and everyone had kind of got to this place where everyone was kind of living in a way where they, I think, felt pretty good. It felt like everyone was kind of enjoying it.

“I’d say, in the moment, I guess the four of us became closer because we were like, ‘OK, this is a hurdle that we weren’t expecting’.”
Malik is pictured here in November 2014 with his bandmates performing at the ARIA Awards. (Supplied/Fairfax Media/Wolter Peeters)
It all notably came to a head, however, with an explosive interview given by Payne to Logan Paul’s IMPAULSIVE podcast in June 2022, the backlash of which was so severe it forced Payne to issue a public apology, which you can read all about here.

More than a year later in July 2023, Malik gave his first interview since 2017, and again addressed the reason why he left One Direction.

Among a plethora of other bombshells – including breaking his silence on his alleged altercation with ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid’s mother Yolanda Hadid – Malik admitted to Call Her Daddy‘s Alex Cooper that he wanted to be the first of the band to leave.

“I was like, ‘I’m just going to get out of here, I think this is done’,” he recounted to Cooper of his decision to leave One Direction.

“I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record. There was obviously underlying issues within our friendships, too. We’d got sick of each other, if I’m being completely honest.”

When did One Direction break up?

Four months after his departure, One Direction released its first single without Malik’s sultry runs stealing the show.
A One Direction fan bursts into tears after catching sight of the band as they made their way into the Logies in April 2012. (Supplied/Fairfax Media/Simon O’Dwyer)

July 2015’s Drag Me Down topped the charts in Australia and multiple countries across the globe, despite the fact that not a single drop of promotional material had been fed to the band’s loyal fans.

Drag Me Down was the first single of One Direction’s fifth studio album, Made in the A.M., which was the band’s first without Malik. Released in November 2015, Made in the A.M. came three months after One Direction revealed they would be going on hiatus in 2016.

“They are taking a hiatus so they can work on individual projects for a while but they are not splitting up,” a source told E! News at the time. “They will remain together and plan to work together in the future.”

Styles, Tomlinson, Payne and Horan’s final performance as One Direction was on December 31, 2015, on Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve. Almost nine years later, they’ve yet to reunite and end the “hiatus”.

While Malik was doing press for Mind of Mine in January 2016, Us Weekly reported the one thing that One Direction fans feared the most but secretly knew to be true, despite Horan firmly denying it to Entertainment Tonight two months prior.

The band’s “hiatus” would actually be a permanent split.

“The 1D thing just ran its course. They’ll remain friends, but they are exhausted and want solo careers,” an unnamed source told Us Weekly, noting that Styles, Tomlinson, Payne and Horan did not renew their contracts in October 2015 after wrapping up the On the Road Again Tour.

It had been their fourth world tour in four years. They’d also released five albums in five years.

In February 2017, Payne accepted the band’s Video of the Year award for their song History at the BRIT Awards, which no other member attended.

By February 2018, all group members had released solo singles, and it was reported One Direction’s touring company had quietly folded. And that was that.

Why did One Direction break up?

In 2017, Styles – who had joined the band aged 16 and was around 23 at the time – revealed he had been the first member of One Direction to bring up a hiatus in late 2014, months before Malik’s departure.

“I didn’t want to exhaust our fan base,” Styles, fresh off the release of his eponymous debut solo album and a starring role in Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk, told Rollling Stone.

“If you’re shortsighted, you can think, ‘Let’s just keep touring,’ but we all thought too much of the group than to let that happen. You realise you’re exhausted and you don’t want to drain people’s belief in you.”

Tomlinson, however, later revealed in 2020 that he wasn’t happy with Styles, Payne and Horan’s wish to go on a “hiatus”.

“I was f–king fuming at first. We were working really hard – people have said overworked, but we weren’t overworked, that’s just what happens when you’re a band that size, though I understand,” Tomlinson told The Telegraph UK.

“I thought I’d mentally prepared myself for a break, but it hit me hard … About a week after, I sat there thinking, ‘Strike while the iron’s hot,’ but I wasn’t ready. I was bitter and angry, I didn’t know why we couldn’t just carry on. But now, even though I don’t fully understand everyone’s individual reasons, I respect them.”

He added that, had it been up to him, he would have had the band take a year off. But almost a decade on, One Direction remains on “hiatus”.
One Direction has not reunited since the band went on hiatus in 2016. (Instagram)

Full timeline of One Direction’s split

February 20, 2015: One Direction’s final performance as a fivesome in Australia. Fans at Perth’s Domain Stadium had no idea it would be the last time Zayn Malik would perform Down Under as part of One Direction.
March 18, 2015: Zayn Malik departs the On the Road Again tour’s Asian leg, citing “stress”.
March 25, 2015: Zayn Malik leaves One Direction.
August 2015: One Direction releases first single without Zayn Malik, Drag Me Down. “Proud of my boys the new single is sick,” he tweeted. That same month, it’s first reported the group would be taking an extended hiatus at the beginning of 2016.
November 2015: Zayn Malik gives his first solo interview, breaking his silence on the split with The Fader. That same month, One Direction releases its fifth studio album, Made in the A.M., the band’s first without Zayn Malik.
December 31, 2015: One Direction, sans Malik, performs as a band for the final time.
January 2016: Zayn Malik releases his first single as a solo artist, Pillowtalk, with a steamy music video starring then-girlfriend Gigi Hadid. That same month, reports start circulating that One Direction’s “hiatus” is actually a permanent split.
March 2016: Zayn Malik releases his first solo album, Mind of Mine.
September 2016: Niall Horan releases his first solo single, This Town, off his debut album Flicker (2017).
December 2016: Louis Tomlinson releases his first solo single, Just Hold On, with Steve Aoki.
February 2017: Liam Payne attends the BRIT Awards solo, accepting One Direction’s Video of the Year award for History.
April 2017: Harry Styles releases his first solo single, Sign of the Times, the lead single of his self-titled debut album. That same year, he stars in Dunkirk.
May 2017: Liam Payne releases his first solo single, Strip That Down, featuring Quavo.
February 2018: Reports emerge One Direction’s touring company had quietly folded.
July 22, 2020: Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Niall Horan and Louis Tomlinson mark One Direction’s 10-year anniversary with messages on X (formerly Twitter). One Direction’s official brand launches a new anniversary website to commemorate the event, which crashes shortly after due to the sheer volume of traffic. Zayn Malik did not publicly acknowledge the anniversary.