There's lots of things to say about Zayn Malik. Things like, 'Zayn Malik is the ex-member of One Direction who called his songs with the band that shot him to fame ‘crap’'. Zayn Malik is the guy who graffitis a rented house. Zayn Malik is the guy who allegedly dumped his fiancée Perrie Edwards via text. Zayn Malik is the guy who has dated supermodel Gigi Hadid. Zayn Malik is so beautiful just one strand of his hair can change the entire trajectory of young women’s (and men’s) sexual desires the world over. Zayn means a lot of things to people, but mainly, Zayn Malik is human. By coming out to say he suffers from anxiety, this very human celebrity has helped show that bad mental health can happen to anyone.
Zayn was due to perform at the Capital Summertime Ball in London but cancelled at the last minute, uploading this to Instagram:
While some tried to detract from Zayn’s experience of anxiety to say that, well, he’s got no reason to be anxious, this is proof that disordered anxiety can affect anyone. This goes for famous people and non-famous people. This stands even if you - for whatever reason - think he’s an arse. And any long-time follower of Zayn will know he’s had anxiety problems in the past. Not only did his mum have to drag him out of bed to get to the X Factor audition, he almost lost out in his chance to be in One Direction after convincing himself he was too bad for the dance round.
Others griped that if Zayn was well enough to make it to the AmFar Gala in LA the night before the gig, he was well enough to perform. But they missed another point. Performance anxiety can apply to some things but not others, even within the same single brain. If that sounds ridiculous then that’s because anxiety disorders are ridiculous and troublesome and nonsensical and illogical. And the people that have them know that. And, moreover, being angry at people who have them gets us all precisely nowhere. Let’s hope Zayn gets better soon and gets to perform for his fans for as long as he wishes to.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.