Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid’s 3-year-old daughter, Khai, is her dad’s biggest fan.
Malik, 31, told Harper’s Bazaar India in an interview published Monday, July 1, that his daughter is known to ask people whenever a song is playing, “Is my baba singing?”
The One Direction alum — who split from Hadid, 29, in 2021 one year after the model gave birth to their daughter — told the outlet that fatherhood “goes by fast!”
“Being a father has only inspired me and made me a better human,” he added. “My daughter is my whole life and has given me purpose.”
Raising Khai seems to mean the world to Malik, who got candid in May about sharing custody of his daughter with Hadid.
“I only have my daughter 50 percent of the time,” Malik explained to Nylon at the time. “I would have her 90 percent if I could.”
He added, “We go see Disney on Ice or we go see the Nickelodeon theme park. Or we go to the beach. That’s how I get out.”
The former couple, who started dating in 2015 and welcomed Khai five years later, told Nylon that he didn’t “really take much time to get to know” himself during that period.
After the birth of Khai, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that the pair’s bond strengthened once they welcomed her into the world.
“Gigi and Zayn are loving parenthood and can’t get enough of their little girl,” the insider shared with Us.
News broke in 2021 that Malik faced criminal harassment charges following an alleged altercation with Gigi’s mother, Yolanda Hadid. Malik pleaded no contest to the charges, resulting in a fine and probation. That same month, Us confirmed that Gigi and Malik ended their relationship.
Despite the ups and downs in Malik’s life, it’s clear that the X Factor alum is keeping an eye on his daughter’s musical talent.
“She’s not expert-level, but she’s got a bit of rhythm when she’s hitting the drums and stuff,” he quipped on The Zach Sang Show in May. “You can tell that she could definitely develop that into something.”
He continued: “Her mom was actually really good at Guitar Hero on the drums, and I was like, ‘Maybe she got that from her mom.’ Because I was diabolical at it and G used to beat me all the time. I’m the musician and she beat me at this game!”
