Zayn Malik opens up about co-parenting daughter with ex Gigi Hadid in rare interview

Zayn Malik opened up about co-parenting his 2-year-old daughter, Khai, with his ex Gigi Hadid.

The former One Direction member shared on the July 12 episode of "Call Her Daddy" he has his daughter 50% of the time, and that when they're together, he makes the most of it.

"That time I have with her is so important because I feel like she's grown up so fast," he said. "When I'm with her I don't work. I just spend a full day with her doing the things that she wants to do, like painting, Play-Doh, this, that, go to the park, go to the theme park, go to the zoo, like we just have fun."

Malik, 30, and Hadid, 28, welcomed their daughter in September 2020. Malik shared the news on Twitter at the time, writing Khai was "healthy & beautiful" after the birth.

"To try put into words how i am feeling right now would be an impossible task. The love i feel for this tiny human is beyond my understanding.Grateful to know her, proud to call her mine, & thankful for the life we will have together," he said.

The pair have rarely spoken about their daughter publicly, and Hadid has only shared glimpses of her on social media that don't reveal her face.

The singer said he's trying to raise his daughter in a "healthy" way, so that she doesn't have to be famous just because her parents are.

"I'm not necessarily trying to shield her from (my life) because she's gonna know, you know, she will get to that point," Malik said. "She's going to have a certain level of awareness, she's going to know what's going on. I'm just trying to give her an option, so it's like a choice for her. If she wants to be away from it, she can be out here."

He added: "I feel like she is going to have a lot of options and whatever she wants to do in her life, obviously I'll support her."

The 30-year-old said he feels like his daughter has helped him find a new way to look at his life.

"I feel like I've rekindled my own childhood through her," he said. "I feel like we get to a certain point in adult life where everything's kind of vague and gray and boring. And she's brought that color back for me, for sure."

This article was originally published on TODAY.com