Since they first started dating nearly six years ago, Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid have appeared in two Vogue photo shoots, starred in a music video together, and appeared on each other’s social media countless times—and hello, did you see them recently celebrating their daughter Khai’s 1st birthday in September??
There have been enough breakups, makeups, and breakups (again) in this relationship to survive even the wildest of roller coasters. At one early point in 2021, Gigi and Zayn were “closer than ever” and we had no choice but to ship. But now, amid some recent family drama, it appears the singer and supermodel have called it quits yet again. Relive their on-again, off-again romance below.
November 2015: Zayn and Gigi first spark romance rumors a few short weeks after she ends thing with Joe Jonas. Photographs of them leaving Justin Bieber’s American Music Awards after-party in L.A. surface, causing millions of Zayn fans to weep rivers. According to an Us Weekly source, the rumored new couple isn’t using “boyfriend and girlfriend” terms just yet. “But seeing each other? Definitely. He’s chuffed.”
Days later, Zayn stirs more romance rumors when he takes a selfie wearing what appears to be Gigi’s glasses.
On November 29, Zayn and Gigi make things official by holding hands while leaving The Nice Guy together. This remains the most wonderful day for longtime Zigi fans.
Before the month wraps, Joe Jonas quietly unfollows Gigi on Instagram and Twitter and deletes a #squad photo of himself with Zayn and Kanye West from earlier in the year.
Gigi, meanwhile, posts and deletes four tweets likely directed at Joe. “Sometimes life just happens...for whatever reason in whatever timing. And sometimes it doesn’t make sense till it does. That’s it,” reads one of the tweets.
She also posts this extremely suggestive “CHILL” photo for Joe and everyone because it’s less than one month into this new relationship, okay?
December 2015: *CUTE PHOTO BREAK*
January 2016: Gigi takes things to the next level with a “Z” necklace. It first appears on her Instagram in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment.
Next up: Zayn’s face is spotted on Gigi’s background image on her phone after she touches down at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris ahead of Paris Fashion Week. And because teasing is better than the real thing (?), Zayn says he and Gigi are “good friends, yeah” while appearing on Apple’s Beats 1 radio show. Um, excuse me?
Meanwhile, Gigi and Zayn star in his new music video for “Pillowtalk.” It’s his first music video as a solo artist and it’s so hot. We even made an entire post dedicated to all the beautiful visuals. Look at them! Then watch this video. Again.
Gigi solidifies herself as Zayn’s biggest fan by singing along to “Pillowtalk” en route to somewhere nice in the wee hours of the morning.
He returns the gesture by commenting on her work in the music video.
February 2016: *CUTE PHOTO BREAK*
April 2016: Zayn and Gigi appear in their first photo shoot together as a couple for Vogue. They are so in love in Naples it hurts.
There’s a behind-the-scenes video too, and yes, it’s also very pretty.
Meanwhile, Gigi’s ex Joe weighs in on Zigi, telling the Daily Mirror, “I think it’s interesting that she moved on so quickly. I mean, it was definitely very quick.” He also notes that people have been comparing him and Zayn “for years.”
May 2016: Zayn and Gigi walk the red carpet together at the Met Gala and are the beau and belle of the ball in Versace and Tommy Hilfiger, respectively.
June 2016: E! News reports that Gigi and Zayn have ended their relationship after seven months of dating. Sources claim that they’ve actually broken up and reunited “multiple times,” due to communication problems. Three days later, Gigi is spotted out in West Hollywood wearing her “Z” necklace, which could mean all is right in the world again.
To further squash breakup rumors, Zayn and Gigi reveal his-and-hers Nutella containers in their New York kitchen via Gigi’s Snapchat. It’s the sweetest thing (get it?):
July 2016: *CUTE PHOTO BREAK*
September 2016: Zayn wishes Gigi good luck ahead of her Gigi X Tommy capsule show in NYC. Two days later, Taylor Swift is spotted third-wheeling a Zigi night out. Is this when Zayn and Taylor’s Fifty Shades Darker song idea first started?
Zayn and Gigi jet off to London for Fashion Week, where they sit front row for the Versus Versace show.
November 2016: Nearly one year to the day Zigi was born, Zayn tells ES Magazine that he and Gigi met in early November 2015 at a Victoria’s Secret party. He approached her after recognizing her “from her picture” and proceeded to ask her out, taking her to The Bowery Hotel’s restaurant Gemma in New York City. “She’s a very intelligent woman,” he says of Gigi. “She knows how to carry herself. She’s quite classy and that. She’s not, like, arrogant in any way. She’s confident. She carries it well. She’s cool.”
December 2016: In an interview on Sirius XM’s Morning Mash Up, Zayn continues the Zigi origin story. “I just asked her [out]. It was pretty straight up,” he said. “I just asked her if she wanted to go on a date. I was in New York.”
January 2017: Zayn and Gigi spark ~ENGAGEMENT RUMORS~ after Gigi is spotted with a pretty gold ring on that finger while out in New York City. The next day, Zayn reveals a new tattoo—“LOVE”—written in cursive on his right hand. What does it all mean?
Should we take a *CUTE PHOTO BREAK*?
Meanwhile, in an interview with British Vogue, Gigi reveals her typical night in with Zayn when she’s in L.A. For starters, they love “doing art” and cooking. “We like late-night movies and we order from this amazing place that does lattes and gingerbread cookies. I need coffee to stay up. I’m always like, ‘Babe, let’s go to a movie.’ Then I fall asleep halfway through and he’s like, ‘You’ve seen the first half of every movie out there and you have no idea how any of them end.’”
February 2017: Zigi spends their second Valentine’s Day together, and yes, there’s a cute Instagram in honor of the big day.
She also calls him “Love of my life” in an Instagram Story. Open your eyes, Zayn! They’re pretty and the world needs to see them.
March 2017: Zayn and Gigi appear in a video together after he wins the Best Music Video award at the iHeartRadio Music Awards. The clip exists because he couldn’t accept the award in person. It all worked out, though, because even his costar got to squeeze in a cute thank-you.
Gigi photographs Zayn for the spring 2017 Versus Versace campaign along with model Adwoa Aboah.
Speaking to the Sunday Times Style, Zayn reveals the couple’s nicknames for each other. “I call her Gee, she calls me Zee. There’s some other nicknames too, but I’ll keep those private,” he said.
April 2017: Zayn calls Gigi “my everything” in a birthday Instagram post.
July 2017: Zigi appears on the August 2017 cover of Vogue. While the pair look divine, their story raises many eyebrows after the magazine says Zayn and Gigi are “part of a new generation embracing gender fluidity.”
Vogue apologizes days later, with a representative explaining that the magazine “missed the mark.”
“The story was intended to highlight the impact the gender-fluid, nonbinary communities have had on fashion and culture. We are very sorry the story did not correctly reflect that spirit—we missed the mark. We do look forward to continuing the conversation with greater sensitivity.”
September 2017: A shirtless Zayn hugs Gigi on her mom Yolanda Hadid’s Instagram, with Yolanda using the hashtag #family.
October 2017: Gigi shares a Boomerang of Zayn doing pull-ups in a Spider-Man costume. Just try and watch this fewer than five times.
Shortly after, Gigi’s own Halloween costume is revealed. Presenting, Spider-Man and Felicia Hardy, aka the Black Cat.
November 2017: In honor of their second anniversary, Gigi shares an Instagram Story of her and Zayn kissing, along with the caption, “2 yrs w my favorite human.” Just adorable.
January 2018: Zayn and Gigi step out in his-and-hers tiny sunglasses. That is all you need to know.
March 2018: After a flurry of rumors based on some Instagram unfollowing on both ends, Gigi and Zayn both confirm via Twitter they are indeed over. Zayn confirms it first.
And Gigi follows up with one of her own.
April 2018: Zayn deletes every photo on his Instagram, including photos featuring Gigi. Sure, Gigi was never prominently featured on his account, but gone are the sweet birthday tribute from April 2017 and their Halloween-themed photo from October 2017. Before fans read too much into this purge, Zayn releases the official music video for “Let Me,” which stars model Sofia Jamora and not Gigi Hadid. If you’re a lifelong Zigi fan, it’s probably a good idea to skip this video.
Just a few short weeks later, Zayn is seen leaving Gigi’s apartment wearing full-on morning-after clothes. What’s even more exciting is that before the month is up, Zigi is spotted kissing on the streets of New York City. TMZ has the photo if you want to feel the joy. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
May 2018: According to E! News, while Zayn wants to get back together with Gigi, she’s “a little bit more hesitant.” The source continues that Gigi “does love him, but she isn’t completely sure this is where she wants to be right now.”
June 2018: Zigi’s on-again, off-again relationship is seemingly on again, if you are to believe Gigi’s Instagram Story of her and Zayn chilling with some Pokémon. Yes, I said Pokémon.
Zayn’s also on the cover of GQ! And because of that, he opens up about his relationship with his possible girlfriend/ex-girlfriend—Gigi, duh—in the corresponding interview. Perhaps the most telling bit of the interview is that Zayn refuses to label their relationship because as everyone knows, it makes things v complicated.
“I’m really thankful that I met her….We’re adults. We don’t need to put a label on it, make it something for people’s expectations. I had a very negative outlook on things [while recording my first solo album],” he said. “That might have been adolescence or testosterone or whatever the f*ck was running through my body at the time. She’s helped me to look at things from a positive angle.” Iiiiinteresting.
July 2018: A fan-run Instagram account, @ExposingFakeeAssZigiii, comes out of nowhere and starts posting “confessions” about Zayn and Gigi’s relationship, calling it fake and for promotion only. And at this point, it looks like Zigi is hella official again, because Gigi is out here defending her relationship.
Gigi fires back and says that the account tagged her in all its posts, which is rude, TBH.
January 2019: Welp, it looks like Zayn and Gigi are broken up yet again. An E! News source credits their split to needing another break from each other.
“They are in different points in their lives right now and decided they needed the time to breath apart from each other. They are still in touch and both hope that things will work out, but their relationship is always up and down,” the source said.
E! News’ source added that Zayn’s busy in the studio, while Gigi’s taking some time to chill after the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.
But literally two weeks later, Gigi is reportedly seen leaving Zayn’s New York City apartment in the early hours of the morning. The Sun got the pics, and honestly, the whole thing feels pretty sus!
March 2019: Uh...so this happens:
April 2019: Gigi is seen hanging out with her friend, Samuel Krost, and they appear to be getting a lil flirty. Gigi tweets this after people begin to speculate about whether they’re dating:
And Zayn goes on a huge Twitter rant, which everyone believes to be about the Gigi and Samuel dating rumors:
But the following day, Zayn clarifies his tweets had absolutely nothing to do with Gigi and asks people to leave her alone.
August 2019: Gigi starts dating Tyler Cameron from The Bachelorette, meaning that all hopes of a proper Zigi reunion are out the window...for now.
October 2019: Gigi and Tyler officially break up. “Tyler is single,” a source tells Us Weekly. “He and Gigi Hadid are no longer together.”
January 2020: Zayn and Gigi are spotted hanging out, and everyone thinks they’re dating…again!
An E! News source confirms that Gigi and Zayn reunited around the holidays, and Gigi is ready to give their relationship another try. “Gigi and Zayn got back together right before the holidays in December,” the source said. “Zayn has been reaching out to Gigi for the last month and she is giving him another chance.”
“She has always loved him and the break between the two was needed,” the source added. “Zayn has been working on his past music and focusing on his health and is in a really good place currently.”
February 2020: We get not one but two relationship confirmations from Gigi herself! Gigi posts the sweetest Polaroid of herself and Zayn together on Instagram.
And because Gigi is feeling generous, she posts a picture of Zayn on her disposable camera account, @Gisposable—on VALENTINE’S DAY!
April 2020: Aaaand the happy relationship confirmations keep on coming, because it’s Gigi’s birthday and Zayn is fully on her Insta feed celebrating with her (and her sis Bella, of course). Look at how cute they are together:
April 28, 2020: WOW, forget the birthday post, because TMZ’s coming through with way bigger relationship news for Zayn and Gigi. The outlet claims that Gigi is 20 weeks pregnant and they’re expecting a baby. No word from the happy couple just yet about whether or not this is true, but we’ll seeeee!
In the meantime, Entertainment Tonight comes through with the sources, which claims that “Gigi has kept the secret close to her family and friends for a while, as she’s only a few months along. Once Gigi and Zayn got back together at the end of last year, it was like they never skipped a beat and knew what they had was special. The couple and their families are overjoyed.”
April 29, 2020: Aaaand the news keeps on coming—Gigi and Zayn are reportedly having a girl! They’re “over the moon” about it, according to another Entertainment Tonight source. “At the end of the day, it didn’t matter to the couple what the sex was, but now they can prepare for the new addition before she arrives.” Awwwww.
April 30, 2020: Dutch TV program RTL Boulevard scores an interview with Gigi’s mom, Yolanda, where she reveals her feelings about becoming a grandmother…and Gigi’s due date! Yolanda’s exact words, below:
“Still shocked our little secret got leaked to the press. Of course, we are so excited. I’m excited to become Oma in September, especially after I lost my mom so recently. But this is the beauty of life, one soul leaves us and a new one comes in. We feel very blessed.”
And in addition to this major confirmation from Yolanda, we get Gigi’s confirmation as well! During a video call with Jimmy Fallon, Gigi says that she “wish[es] we could’ve announced it on our own terms, but we’re very excited and happy and grateful for everyone’s well-wishes and support.”
May 2, 2020: Zayn doesn’t go on the record about Gigi’s pregnancy, but a source was happy to share how he’s feeling about becoming a dad. According to an Us Weekly source, he “couldn’t be more thrilled.” :')
The source shares, “Zayn has always been so into Gigi and she’s always been such a big part of his life. Even when there were times that they weren’t a couple, the love was still very much there.” They also add that he would “talk openly with his friends about how he was still so in love [with her]” when they were broken up and how he “cared so much about her….He was very hopeful that they would get back together.”
July 6, 2020: Gigi is not here for people assuming that she’s hiding her pregnancy because she hasn’t posted a photo of herself with her baby bump on display. After British Vogue suggests that’s what she’s doing, she clarifies it’s not true.
“Disguise…? I said in a baggy jumpsuit the front and side views are visually different stories—not that that was intentional or I was trying to hide anything. Will be proud and happy to share ‘insight’ when I feel like it, thanks,” Gigi tells British Vogue on Twitter. “For now I am proudly experiencing and sharing this time with my family and loved ones.”
July 7, 2020: Baby Hadid-Malik is doing wonders for Gigi and Zayn’s relationship, apparently. Us Weekly reports they are “closer than ever” and using this time to be together surrounded by nature. “Gigi has been living at her mom’s farm with Zayn,” the source says. “She came back to NYC recently but she plans to spend most of her pregnancy there at the farm.”
July 16, 2020: Remember Gigi’s beef with British Vogue about her hiding her pregnancy? Well, now she’s showing off her baby bump to the world!
In her recent Gigi Journal with V magazine, Gigi explained that it didn’t feel right to post often about her pregnancy with everything going on in the world rn.
“That’s a reason that I felt that it’s not really something that I need to share apart from with my family and friends,” she says. “Obviously, a lot of people have lost lives due to the coronavirus that was in the beginning of quarantine and still happening. And then we moved obviously into the reemergence of the BLM [Black Lives Matter] movement, and I thought that our presence on social media should be used for that.”
Right now, Gigi’s making it a point to enjoy her pregnancy without the added pressure of social media. “I just am not rushed to do it, and I feel like right now I just want to experience it, and I write in my journal a lot and I just don’t want to worry about waking up every day during my pregnancy and worry about having to, like, look cute or post something,” she says.
She also says she sees people’s positive comments and is very grateful for them. “I’m so grateful for the positive comments and the questions and wanting just to know that we’re all good and safe and everything’s going great and I love you guys,” she adds. “I do appreciate those positive comments.”
August 1, 2020: Gigi and Zayn smooch in a rare photo, courtesy of Gigi. It won’t be much longer until they become parents.
September 23, 2020: Zigi baby is here!! Proud dad Zayn Malik announces the news and shares the first pic of Little Miss Hadid-Malik, saying, “Our baby girl is here, healthy & beautiful. To try to put into words how I am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love I feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding. Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine & thankful for the life we will have together x.”
November 1, 2020: Gigi and Zayn share their first public family photo with their baby girl! And they’re all in Halloween costumes!!
Check out this cuteness:
December 1, 2020: Gigi Instagrams a bunch of photos from her pregnancy, and there’s a really sweet shot of her and Zayn all cuddled up together.
January 15, 2021: All is well in Zayn and Gigi’s world—the couple is more smitten than ever, and Gigi is acclimating to motherhood just fine.
“Motherhood has come to her with such ease,” a source tells Entertainment Tonight. “She is such a natural.” And luckily for Gigi, she and Zayn are on the same exact page on how they’d like to raise their daughter.
“They share the same values when it comes to culture, family, and parenting,” the source says. “Gigi and Zayn both have very close relationships with their families and raising their daughter with that same loving environment is very important to them.”
Zayn and Gigi’s daughter (whom they have chosen not to share the name of, btw) also continues to bring them together—the update on their ’ship is that they “are so in love and having a baby together has brought them even closer.”
And speaking of looove, there just might be wedding bells in Zayn and Gigi’s future! Zayn releases his long-awaited album Nobody Is Listening, and on it he makes a romantic confession: He wants Gigi to be his wife.
On “When Love’s Around,” Zayn sings:
“Never feels right / Never feel that type of way / But I need you in my life / Yeah, you could be my wife for real / Only takes a woman / To show you what it means to love.”
In conclusion: Keep your eyes on Gigi’s ring finger. 👀
January 21, 2021: After four long months of waiting, fans finally—FINALLY!—learn what Zayn and Gigi’s baby’s name is! Gigi reveals their daughter’s name in her Instagram bio.
Zayn and Gigi’s baby’s name is Khai, which has a gorgeous meaning and connection to Gigi’s family.
FYI—Gigi actually revealed Khai’s name on November 22 when she posted a pic of a wrapped gift for her daughter under the tree. We all missed it!
February 4, 2021: Another year, another Vogue cover! Gigi sits down with the mag and gets candid about giving birth to Khai and all the plans she and Zayn have for their family’s future.
The major interview bombshell? Gigi says she was in labor for 14 hours (holy freakin’ cow) from the comfort of her home and didn’t use an epidural to help her cope with the pain:
“I had to dig deep.…I knew it was going to be the craziest pain in my life, but you have to surrender to it and be like, ‘This is what it is.’ I loved that. There definitely was a point where I was like, I wonder what it would be like with an epidural, how it would be different. My midwife looked at me and was like, ‘You’re doing it. No one can help you. You’re past the point of the epidural anyway, so you’d be pushing exactly the same way in a hospital bed.’ Afterward, Z and I looked at each other and were like, we can have some time before we do that again.”
Gigi also tells Vogue the process made Zayn feel pretty helpless. Apparently, he “likened his own experience of her birth to a lion documentary he’d seen in which a male lion paces nervously outside the cave while the lioness delivers her cubs,” which ??? “Z was like, ‘That’s how I felt! You feel so helpless to see the person you love in pain,’” Gigi recalled.
Instead of raising Khai in New York City, she and Zayn are going to keep her in Pennsylvania on their farm so she can have a peaceful upbringing. “I think she’ll definitely be raised here [in Pennsylvania],” Gigi adds. “The greenery and the farm-y lifestyle are similar to what made me feel really centered as a kid, and I think that’s really important to Zayn and me. I think that just giving your child the opportunity to explore different interests is such a beautiful thing.”
Gigi and Zayn also want their bb girl “to understand fully all of her background—and also, we want to prepare her. If someone does say something to her at school, we want to give her the tools to understand why other kids would do that and where that comes from.” Never thought I’d be jealous of a baby, but here I am, y’all.
October 28, 2021: Sources close to both Gigi and Zayn told multiple outlets that they have broken up. “Zayn and Gigi have silently separated,” a source told Us Weekly. “They’d been having problems for a while and tried to figure them out, but it just wasn’t working.” The source also mentioned that “some of their issues” possibly originated from an “irresponsible” incident from the summer when Zayn apparently got in a fight outside a NYC bar—Gigi “wasn’t happy” about it.
Another source doubled down on the split to People, saying that Gigi and Zayn “are not together right now. They are both good parents though. They co-parent. Yolanda is of course very protective of Gigi. She wants the best for her daughter and grandchild.” Gigi and Zayn have not commented on the breakup yet themselves.
The news of the breakup came after a whirlwind of reports from TMZ that Yolanda Hadid, Gigi’s mom, alleged that Zayn “struck” her. Zayn posted a lengthy Twitter statement (via the Notes app) seemingly acknowledging the matter.
After the post, he told TMZ directly, “I adamantly deny striking Yolanda Hadid, and for the sake of my daughter, I decline to give any further details and I hope that Yolanda will reconsider her false allegations and move toward healing these family issues in private.”
Gigi’s rep told E! News at the time that she was “solely focused on the best for Khai” and that “she asks for privacy during this time.” The source from Us Weekly also mentioned that “Gigi has been busy with her modeling career and is leaning on her mom, Yolanda, and sister Bella [Hadid] for support,” while Zayn “continues to be very much involved in Khai’s life” and “he and Gigi still care deeply for each other.”
October 29, 2021: Come to find out, the alleged dispute between Zayn and Yolanda had already gone to public records, according to official court documents first obtained by TMZ. Based on the documents, Zayn was charged with four counts of harassment against Gigi and Yolanda. He pleaded no contest to the charges.
The argument happened on September 29 between Zayn and Yolanda at his and Gigi’s home in Pennsylvania. The documents alleged that Zayn “grabbed [Yolanda] and shoved her into a dresser, causing mental anguish and physical pain.” A source told People that Zayn “didn’t slap Yolanda” but that he did have her in “an aggressive hold.”
Additionally, Zayn reportedly called Yolanda multiple insults and threw “continuous” curse words at her, according to the documents. The official papers also said Zayn reportedly called Yolanda a “f*cking Dutch slut” and told her to “stay away from [his] f*cking daughter.”
Zayn had charges against Gigi too. Even though she was in Paris during the dispute, according to TMZ, it was still reported in the court documents that Zayn allegedly called her and said, “Strap on some f*cking balls and defend your partner against your f*cking mother in my house.”
Not only was Zayn ordered to serve 90 days probation for each charge, but he also has to complete both an anger management course and a domestic violence program.
That’s it for now, but if Zigi’s recent activity is any indicator…there will definitely be updates.
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