Everything The One Direction Boys Have Said About The Band Post-Split

On March 14, days after Malik announced his fourth solo studio album, Room Under the Stairs (set to drop on May 17), the singer joined Sean Evans for a new episode of Hot Ones. While chowing down on fiery hot wings, he answered some burning questions about One Direction and debunked a scary moment from one of their tours.

“On stage, Harry was right next to a pyro, and the pyro was about to go off because they were on timers. He had a towel over his head, and he had his head over the pyro and he didn’t see that the pyro was there,” Malik said. “You see me run from one side of the stage and push him out of the way and the pyro explodes in front of his face — that was really dangerous.”

On a lighter note, Malik also reminisced on the group’s favorite song for filling the air during technical difficulties. “We’d just burst into ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ acapella,” he revealed. “Just do the whole performance of that until the microphones were working again. That was the thing that we had in our back pocket always like, ‘If the microphone goes, we’ve always got that,'” he added. “As if it was some amazing performance. Funny times.”

Marking his first interview after six years of radio silence, Malik sat down with Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper to share that his grand exit from the group stemmed from wanting to be the first to leave.

"I was like, 'I'm just gonna get out of here, I think this is done,’” he said. "I completely selfishly wanted to be the first person to go and make my own record. ... I'm a passive dude but when it comes to my music and my business, I'm serious about it. I'm competitive, so I wanted to be the first to go and do my own thing."

He also cleared up that even though he had a “great time” with his bandmates, things had run their course. “There was obviously underlying issues within our friendships, too. We'd been together every day for five years and we got sick of each other, if I'm being completely honest," he told Cooper. "We were close. We'd done crazy things with each other that nobody else in the world will ever understand. I look back on it now in a much fonder light than I would’ve as I'd just left."

While promoting his second solo studio album, The Show, Horan chatted with Zane Lowe about the possibility of a One Direction reunion. “We speak regularly, but that [reunion] conversation hasn’t happened,” he said. “God knows what it ends up being — it could be like the Friends reunion, it could be a whole tour. God knows what it is, but it hasn’t been spoken about.”

Just two months earlier, Styles made a surprise appearance on The Late Late Show With James Corden, where the host also asked the Fine Line singer about reuniting with his ex-bandmates. He answered quickly, saying, "I think I would never say never to that. If there was a time when we wanted to do it, I don't see why we wouldn't," Styles said.

Tomlinson revealed in an interview with The Times that he was “mortified” and “absolutely gutted” when 1D split up. "I was a bit bitter, I suppose because it just felt like another loss to me. But I've a better understanding of things now, and there's not as much anger. It is what it is,” he said.

As for a possible reunion, Tomlinson said “getting back together at some point is hard to imagine right now,” — an understandable statement given their solo careers are jam-packed. “But I'd be surprised if we lived out our lives and didn't have a moment where we had a reunion, or whatever you want to call it. I'd be up for that."

Shortly after Styles won Grammy Awards including Album Of The Year for Harry’s House, his former bandmates took to Instagram to express their congratulations.

Payne posted a now-deleted photo of Styles accepting his award, writing, “Wow… this image is really something to wake up to and when you write music like you do Harry you deserve every millisecond of that moment looking down smiling at the trophy you've earned. God bless you brother congratulations.” Horan also shared the sentiments on his IG story, writing that he was very proud of Styles’ accomplishments.

In the controversial Impaulsive podcast episode heard ‘round the world, Payne joined YouTuber Logan Paul for a gossip-filled interview about all things One Direction.

“There's many many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there's many reasons why I'll always always be on his side. You can always look at the man for where he is and say, 'Oh yeah, whatever, that guy's a d*ck,' but at the end of the day, once you understand what he's been through to get to the point, and also whether or not if he actually even wanted to be there,” Payne said.

"Listen, I don't agree with any of his actions,” he continued. “I can't commend some of the things that he's done. But what I can say is that I understand, and you only hope that some point in their life, the person on the other end of the phone wants to receive the help you're willing to give."

Payne also eluded that an unnamed band member threw him against the wall in a physical altercation that almost turned violent. He said he told them, “If you don’t remove those hands there’s a high likelihood you’ll never use them again.” When questioned about his solo career, Payne compared his success to the rest of the band, boasting, “I think [“Strip That Down”] outsold everybody within the band, and I was the last to go [solo]. And I never expected that.”

Just a month before his Grammy-winning album Harry’s House dropped, Styles was interviewed for an exclusive cover story with Better Homes & Gardens. Taking readers on a journey through his career and accomplishments, he recalled his experience in the band.

“There were so many years where, for me, especially in the band and the first few years coming out of it, I'd just been terrified of it ending, because I didn't necessarily know who I was if I didn't do music,” Styles said.

During his press tour for his 2022 album, About Faith in the Future, Tomlinson shared with The Telegraph that he’d “be lying if it didn’t bother him at first” once Styles began to excel individually. He believed this was because he “didn’t know where to place myself, and really my only point of reference was other members of the band."

Following their famous falling out in late 2015, Tomlinson revealed on the Zach Sang Show that he and Malik still weren’t on speaking terms. Sang asked Tomlinson how he felt about his friendship with Malik, to which he replied, “You’d have to ask him.” The singer continued, "There's been numerous times over the last couple of years where I've thought about him and hoped he's alright.”

"[I vividly recall being in] all these amazing cities, but not being able to see them [because fans would surround our hotel],” Horan shared during a podcast episode of People, Just People. He recalled when fans would be "banging on car windows [before we could get out of the vehicle],” sharing he missed the luxury of simply going for a walk.

While there was originally a rumor that the band was planning “something special” for their 10-year anniversary, unfortunately, nothing came to fruition. Almost all of them, however, recognized the milestone with heartfelt Instagram posts. Tomlinson captioned his post, “The memories we've shared together have been incredible. Can't believe its been 10 years already. Thanks for everything lads and love to you the fans as always x.”

Styles matched the sentiment, saying, "To the boys, I love you so much, and I couldn't be prouder of everything we achieved together. Here's to ten. H." Horan also tagged all of the bandmates, “Cheers to US today boys, and thank you to all you beautiful people who have supported us over the last 10 years."

Payne and Malik were noticeably offline.

In a 2020 interview with British GQ, Horan provided insight into the very public feud with Malik. “As long as I’ve known him, Zayn’s been the hardest man to stay in touch with. Then we had a falling out a few years ago and, to be honest, that’s just the dynamic: you have people you are friends with and people you are not,” Horan said. He said he did aim to see the other boys and was especially close with Tomlinson.

As the 10th anniversary of 1D approached, the boys publicly looked back fondly on their lengthy run, Tomlinson especially. "I f*cking love the boys, and I love everything we've done together,” he shared in an exclusive interview with Rolling Stone. “And I still miss my time with them. I think any of the boys would be lying if they said otherwise. It was a special time in our lives, definitely," he added.

In his first stint as a celebrity host on Saturday Night Live, Styles lightly referenced the 1D breakup. "I love those guys, they're my brothers: Niall, Liam, Louis, and, uh, Ringo, yeah, that's it,” Styles said in his introduction monologue. This cheeky pun was a callout to Malik being the first member to leave the band, similar to how Ringo Starr was the first to exit The Beatles.

Payne shared with British GQ that a few years after the hiatus began, he started therapy. “I kind of went off the rails a little bit and just couldn't really figure out what was making me sad,” Payne said. “We spent the best part of five years in a band closed off from the world and I had to go through this really weird transition inside that band as the world, and then myself, came out of it.”

While there’s still uncertainty around what exactly went down between the boys and Malik, Tomlinson revealed on The Dan Wootton Interview podcast that an incident in 2016 caused tension.

Shortly after his mother passed away from leukemia in December 2016, Tomlinson was slated to perform on The X Factor. Instead of canceling, he dedicated his performance to her, and all of the boys, except Malik, attended to support him. "All the boys had agreed to come to that performance and he didn't show so that bugged me. It was just seeing everyone there — Harry, Niall, and Liam — that was what I needed that night, that support," he said.

Between questions from British Vogue about his burgeoning relationship with Gigi Hadid, Malik debriefed his experience toward the band’s end. While he had maintained a reputation of dissing 1D, this time, he shared, “I’m able to look on it as something that was an amazing experience, which I was never even able to say until just recently. I think back to the performances towards the end, when we were in stadiums, I wasn’t ever able to enjoy the experience. The machine had gone too fast.”

In his first interview post-1D breakup, Styles told Rolling Stone he was upset that Malik viewed the band as “uncool.” "I think it's a shame he felt that way, but I never wish anything but luck to anyone doing what they love. If you're not enjoying something and need to do something else, you absolutely should do that. I'm glad he's doing what he likes, and good luck to him," Styles said.

Malik didn’t have any public response to Styles’ statement.

In a shocking turn of events at the time, Malik blatantly revealed to Billboard that he did not speak to any of the boys anymore. “Our relationships have definitely changed since we were in a band together, but I think that’s just life,” he said. “Everybody grows up; two of the guys have got kids now. But no, I don’t talk to any of them, really.” The publication stated that he felt no malice toward his ex-bandmates and wished them the best.

As soon as Malik left One Direction, fans were eager to learn his plans. And once his profile with The Fader dropped in November, it became clear that he had left the band behind for good.

“There was never any room for me to experiment creatively in the band,” he said. “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*ck, so they could use that version.”

He also clarified that he “wasn’t 100% behind the music,” sharing, “It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is going to sell to this people. As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about.”