Grace Diviny, Staff Writer
One Direction bandmates Zayn Malik and Louis Tomlinson have allegedly had a falling out after The Sun reported a dispute broke out between the two former members whilst filming a three-part Netflix docuseries that was to showcase them on a road trip whilst reminiscing on their time in the popular boyband. The rumors only have been fueled by Netflix canceling the three-part docuseries last month because of the fight alongside the docuseries’ director Nicola Marsh posting the Sun’s article on her Instagram story with the caption “And there goes the last year of work.”
The dispute was said to be about a remark Malik made towards Tomlinson’s late mom Johannah Deakin, who passed away from cancer in December 2016. It then allegedly escalated into Malik punching his former bandmate, in which sources say “Louis was stunned and in shock. Zayn was wearing rings, so it cut his head. It happened outside in front of so many people.” Following the incident, Tomlinson has since unfollowed Malik on Instagram as of last week.
However, longtime Directioners know that this is not the first feud at all between the two. In fact, prior to the documentary, the two band members were estranged following Zayn’s departure from One Direction in March 2015 but had a public feud on Twitter in May of that year when Louis took a swipe towards Zayn after a selfie the latter took with artist Naughty Boy, resulting in Zayn clapping back that had many fans worried that the split was not as ‘amicable’ as it may have seemed previously.
Tensions only grew as Zayn was notably the only member from the group not to show up to Louis’ X Factor tribute performance for his late mother in 2016, to which Louis spoke about how it mentally affected him in a 2019 interview saying “Truthfully, it never really got better. All the boys had agreed to come to that performance, and he didn’t show, so that really bugged me.”
But the two seemingly put their differences aside in the wake of One Direction member Liam Payne’s passing in October 2024, where the two showed up for the funeral before Louis eventually showed up at one of Zayn’s shows in January 2025 before following each other again in May 2025, showing that they had presumably bonded again through the grief of losing their former bandmate. However, this recent incident has fans wondering if the two will somehow manage to push through whatever happened and be friends again, or if they will continue with their now unpaused decade-long feud.
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