Zayn Malik was "very ignorant" when he first joined One Direction.
Zayn Malik
The 23-year-old singer toured the world as part of the boy band but admits he didn't understand how fame would take a toll on him.
He said: "I was very ignorant at 17 - blind beyond my years. I thought going on X Factor meant you won a million pounds and got a contract at the end of it. And I was like, 'S**t. All my problems are solved. I win a million pounds and that's it. Simple. But you don't think about everything else that goes with it. You're only 17, your dreams are immature."
Asked what advice he would give to his 17-year-old self, he added: "I would say, 'Do your research and be a bit more prepared about certain situations before you make a decision.'"
And Zayn admits he probably wouldn't have signed the record contract so soon knowing what he does now.
He added: "But I probably wouldn't have [signed] - I would've waited a couple more extra years. Just so I had that time to just get my head around being a famous person. I've never been able to have, what's the word? Anonymity. If I could go back, I'd have a few more years of anonymity."
The 'Pillowtalk' hitmaker also admitted to "continuously struggling" with feeling hurried into a situation by the group's management.
He told London's ES magazine: "They kind of went crazy when I had a massive 'ZAP' tattooed on my arm. It was just a continuous struggle because I was hurried into a situation that I didn't necessarily want to be in. Obviously I had to stop feeling like that. So one day I stopped being in the band."
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