On March 25, 2015, devastating news reached the ears of One Direction fans worldwide – Zayn Malik was leaving the band.

‘My life with One Direction has been more than I could ever have imagined,’ the then 22-year-old singer said in a statement.

‘But, after five years, I feel like it is now the right time for me to leave the band. I’d like to apologise to the fans if I’ve let anyone down, but I have to do what feels right.’

The dramatic fallout was similar to Beatlesmania or the Take That split, with fans bawling their eyes out and feeling ‘resentment’ toward the Bradford-born singer.

It’s been 10 years since Zayn Malik quit One Direction (Picture: Hugh Thompson/REX/Shutterstock)

While Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson continued as a four-piece, it was the start of the end for the biggest boyband in the world.

Now, a decade on and after the heartbreaking news of Liam’s death at age 31 last year, Directioners are seeing Zayn’s exit through fresh eyes.

‘People always talk about how they can remember where they were for historical events, but I genuinely can remember exactly where I was,’ fan Liv Cox told Metro.

She was in the car with her mum, heading home from school when they flicked onto Radio 1, which was half through playing What Makes You Beautiful.

‘I was singing along, having a lovely time,’ Liv continued. ‘Then after the song finished, it was Greg James presenting at the time and he said, “Is it too soon?” And my stomach dropped.’

Greg broke the news, leaving the dedicated Directioner in ‘stunned silence’ – to the point her mum was getting concerned.

‘I was just completely silent. I went up to my bedroom, just sat there and sobbed for about two hours.’

Emily Bashforth explained how she struggled to feel ‘normal’ as her ‘whole world changed forever’ with a ‘pit of sadness’ in her stomach after reading the announcement.

Metro reporter Meghna Amin shared that it felt like ‘the beginning of the end’ for the beloved band.

She added: ‘The only member of the band from a similar background to mine was now not representing our community in the band, which felt like they were cutting out a big audience in some ways.’

This ‘out of the blue’ feeling was partly due to the group being mid-tour at the time, having just played Hong Kong the week before.

Zayn, 32, said he wanted to have some ‘private time’ away from the spotlight, denying any rumours of a rift between himself and his bandmates.

Even though things seemed amicable, Meghna notes there was pressure from fans to ‘pick a side’ and either support the remaining four-piece or Zayn.

‘You were either seen as defending him and then being “against” the rest of the band, or vice versa,’ she said.

Emily, who was 15 at the time, said there was ‘an instant feeling of resentment’ towards Zayn for shattering her beloved band.

‘He was part of the world’s biggest boyband, living a life of luxury with millions worshipping his every move—how could he just leave that behind?’

Fan and One Direction TikToker Ben Pease told Metro: ‘I was angry, and I did take sides, I was very much in favour of the band.’

It was a year before Zayn would release any solo music, raising eyebrows within the fandom about how his ‘break’ hadn’t been very long.