One Direction’s Zayn Malik Leaves World Tour Due To Stress

News reports have emerged that One Direction will be continuing their world tour without one of the members of their five-some, Zayn Malik. Malik, the subject of many controversies lately, including a purported cheating scandal, has been diagnosed with stress and has returned to the United Kingdom under a physician’s advisement.

Malik has been in a downward spiral recently after accusations of rude behavior on a flight and getting into an onstage argument with fellow bandmate Liam Payne, the video of which went viral.

Zayn’s most recent brush with tabloids was in regard to photos that emerged this week of the singer with his arm around a young woman. While that may seem like harmless behavior for a young man of Malik’s stature, Zayn has been engaged to fellow pop star Perrie Edwards since 2013. The pic has elicited rumors of cheating and impropriety.

Twitter was abuzz with fans and critics chiming in on the matter, some coming to Malik’s defense while others speculated that Zayn was a serial cheater or the couple had broken up. Malik himself took to Twitter just yesterday in an effort to apologize and clear the air.

“I’m 22 years old… I love a girl named Perrie Edwards. And there’s a lot of jealous ***** in this world I’m sorry for what it looks like.”

Zayn Malik and fellow One Directioner Louis Tomlinson came to the Philippines already facing scrutiny. Malik and Tomlinson were ordered to post cash bonds of 200,000 pesos prior to entering the country as a means of good faith that they would not be using illegal drugs during their tour. The stipulation came after video footage of Malik and Tomlinson smoking cannabis in Peru hit the internet last May.

Malik, 22, originally got his start on the X Factor as a contestant. After being eliminated before the final round of the competition, judges Nicole Scherzinger and Simon Cowell placed Zayn with fellow contestants to form a new act for the remainder of the show. The end result was the emergence of One Direction.

While Malik’s break from being one fifth of one of the most popular boy bands on the planet may seem like the end of the world to some, One Direction fans can hold out hope for the return of Zayn. Sources say that while Malik is anticipated to miss the Manila and Jakarta performances, the band is hopeful that Zayn will return for their scheduled March 28 performance in Cape Town.

[Image courtesy of Stuart C Wilson/Getty Images]