Zayn Malik quit One Direction because an 'alien' told him to

Back when Zayn Malik quit One Direction in 2015, many questioned the singer's decision assuming that exhaustion, increasing pressure or a fall out with former band members to be influencers behind the move.

While these may have been contributing factors, it seems Malik had another reason for leaving the band. In an interview with Glamour, when asked what initially prompted the thought, the 23-year-old singer said: "An alien spoke to me in a dream."

Regardless of whether Malik is joking or not, this extra-terrestrial clearly had Malik's fortunes in mind; since leaving his former bandmates Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne to it, Malik - who is currently dating model Gigi Hadid - went on to release a Billboard chart-topping album, Mind of Mine, which proved a worldwide success.

Malik also revealed in the interview that he bought a beanie with his first paycheck, the first album he bought was Tupac's All Eyes On Me and that Macauley Culkin weepie My Girl was the first film that made him cry.

One Direction are now on a hiatus having recently ended a world tour. While it's unclear what Tomlinson, Horan and Payne will get up to in their spare time, Styles will attempt to kickstart a film career with a role in Christopher Nolan's WWII drama Dunkirk.