Gigi Hadid on What It's Really Been Like Co-Parenting Khai With Zayn Malik
Gigi Hadid has largely kept her relationship with ex-boyfriend Zayn Malik to herself following the couple’s final breakup in October 2021. But to The Times, Hadid opened up a little about her life co-parenting their two-year-old daughter Khai together.
Hadid just referred to Malik as Khai’s father and spoke in a “loving tone” about him, suggesting they were at peace. When asked for advice on co-parenting arrangements, Hadid said, “Just keeping the importance of the child’s happiness at the forefront. You have a long life alongside this person.”
She added that she schedules her work commitments “when Khai is with her dad. That she can be with both parents makes me very happy.”
Gigi Hadid, Zayn Malik and Khai during Halloween 2020
She also addressed Malik’s British influence on his daughter, lighting up, per the outlet, when she spoke about the “little bits” of Britishness in Khai. Malik was raised in Bradford, England. “She’s clearly a child who was grown in my stomach eating a lot of British food—breakfast, beans, curries,” Hadid said. “And she still eats like that. She even says some words with a little [English] accent, which I love.”
Overall, Hadid had nothing but glowing things to say about her little girl. “She has already given me so much,” she said. “I always wanted to be a mum, but I was never obsessive about it or [thought that] I was put on this Earth to be a mum. I’ve always been quite organized, so having Khai at the time that I did was a blessing. I’m so glad to be a young mom.”
Hadid spoke to ELLE recently more about how Khai knows the complete version of her “She obviously sees me in every state and way, and whether she knows it or not, I’m going through and learning through life with her,” Hadid started. “I think that she has a really realistic kind of 24/7, around-the-clock view. We’re up chatting in the middle of the night if she’s up; we’re talking about, I don’t know, random stuff, but it’s fun. Having a daughter, although it shifted my life to make me really want to feel more settled, has also really made me appreciate the chaos as well. Being at shows and shoots and just being in the city again; being around friends [after] becoming a mom, with everyone also coming out of COVID—I have an appreciation for both sides of it.”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.
