Alex Cooper knows telling the story of one’s life is more than just pillow talk.
It’s why having Zayn Malik as a guest on Call Her Daddy—their July 2023 conversation marking his first interview in six years—was such a nerve-wracking experience for the podcast host.
“I’m very competitive with myself, so I think every single interview—I’m obviously very hard on myself,” Alex reflected to E! News in an exclusive interview. “I think there’s different levels to the intimidation or the stress.” (For more with Alex, tune into E! News tonight, July 9 at 11 p.m.)
She continued, “Zayn essentially coming out of retirement from doing interviews, I was putting pressure on myself to make sure that I was giving that person a really great environment to feel comfortable and to feel seen and to feel heard. And to not feel pressured into talking about things he didn’t want to talk about.”
Yet while Alex gave him the space to address, or not address, many aspects of his private life, in his Call Her Daddy interview Zayn ended up addressing everything from his time with One Direction, co-parenting his daughter Khai with ex Gigi Hadid and why he retreated from the spotlight in the way he did.
On the latter point, the 31-year-old explained it had everything to do with his time with One Direction and the intense scrutiny he and his bandmates were under from both the media and the public.
"I think that's why I've took the time I have to not even necessarily do interviews and do too much press exposure,” he said at the time. “Because I feel like we were so overexposed in the band that it takes a bit of time for you naturally to progress as a human and give something else that is interesting that you have to say."
He further explained, “You don't want to be sat there just saying the same s--t on repeat, you know? I mean day in, day out, like, I think this should be a good healthy break in between—and that was my approach to it. I feel like in terms of figuring out what your identity is as an artist, the only way you're going to do that is by living."
But after his time out of the public eye, Zayn confirmed he was ready to step back into the limelight in a big way.
As he told Alex of his fans, "They're going to see me a lot more. And I want them to know that across the board I've kind of had a full mental re-haul and in the best way."
And indeed, Zayn has kept his promise. In addition to sitting down for many more interviews in the year since, the singer also made his return to music with the release of his newest album ROOM UNDER THE STAIRS—his first since 2018’s Icarus Falls.
Upon the album’s May release, Zayn wrote to his fans on Instagram, “Thank you for all your unwavering love and support. I hope you love this record just as much as I loved creating it.”
Keep reading for more from Zayn’s Call Her Daddy interview, and don’t miss Alex’s full interview with E! News—airing July 9 at 11 p.m.
-Reporting by Emily Curl