Zayn Malik Shades Ex Gigi Hadid as He Admits He Doesn't Know If He's 'Truly Been in Love' Before: 'Who Knows?'

Zayn Malik made a shocking confession about his romantic life.

During the Wednesday, May 8, episode of "The Zach Sang Show" podcast, the former One Direction member, 31, seemingly threw shade at ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid as he admitted he hasn't really been in love before.

"I don’t know if I’ve ever actually truly been in love at this point," Malik, who shares 3-year-old daughter Khai with the supermodel, 29, said.

When the host asked him about the deep affection he could hold for his kid, the "PILLOWTALK" singer added, "I'm in love with her as my child," which is different than being "in love with somebody who is a complete separate entity. They're not my family, I have no blood with them, like, I'm in love with this person, you know? I don't know."

Malik, who last split from Hadid in 2021, explained, "You can never really pinpoint, I think, what is love. There’s ways you can show love. You can express it. That’s our human understanding of it, but what is love? It’s an intangible thing, right? We can’t hold it in our hands. It’s not something that exists."

"Your perspective changes it, right? You look back on it with new eyes, and you’re like, ‘Well, maybe I wasn’t in love there.’ But that’s time," he added. "So, is it love? Or is it life experience that we are going through? Who knows?"

In late 2015, the former boy bander began dating the cover girl shortly after breaking off his engagement to Perrie Edwards. After being in an on-again, off-again relationship for years, Hadid announced she was pregnant with their first child in 2020.

By 2021, their love soured after the runway star's mother, Yolanda Hadid, accused Malik of physically assaulting her upon entering his Pennsylvania home. The pop star entered a no contest plea to four charges of harassment.

Never miss a story — sign up for the OK! newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what OK! has to offer. It’s gossip too good to wait for!

Despite their dramatic end, Malik and Hadid have maintained a cordial coparenting relationship for their kiddo. "Gigi and Zayn are getting along just fine," a source confirmed after the legal drama subsided. "They’ve been in each other’s lives in some way or another for the past few weeks.”

"There is no custody battle going on right now — they’re just trying to work things out as coparents," the insider explained while adding that Hadid felt her former boyfriend was working to be a "responsible father” to their little girl.