Zayn Malik's romance with Perrie Edwards was over months before split

Zayn Malik knew his relationship with his ex-fiancée Perrie Edwards was "breaking down" five months before their split

Zayn Malik has revealed he knew his relationship with Perrie Edwards was over months before he officially called time on their engagement.

The 23-year-old musician ended his two-year engagement to the Little Mix singer in August 2015, but he has now revealed that knew the relationship was headed for disaster in March -- the same month he decided to depart from chart-topping boy band One Direction.

The 'Pillowtalk' hitmaker revealed in his new memoir 'Zayn': "It was March 2015. I had been in a bad place for a while and I didn't see myself getting out of it unless I made a change.

"My relationship with my fiancée, Perrie, was breaking down. To make matters worse, there were so many crazy stories flying around in the newspapers about us, and it felt like such an invasion of privacy, it made me just want to disappear for a while."

And although the 'It's You' singer never shares the details of his split in his memoir, the star explains that his decision to move to Los Angeles came as a result of the end of their relationship.

He wrote: "I decided I needed a change. I wanted to switch things up, gain some new inspiration. This was at a time when a lot of stuff was going on in my personal life. My engagement to Perrie was over. Because of that, and me leaving One Direction, the media in London was tailing me wherever I went. There were photographers parked outside my house all the time, and fans would ring the doorbell in the middle of the night. It all just felt like too much to take. I needed a change of scene. So I ended up in LA."

Meanwhile, the 'Shout Out to My Ex' hitmaker, also 23, has shared her side of the story in her band's upcoming book 'Our World'.

Perrie wrote: "It was horrible, the worst time in my life. A four-year relationship, two-year engagement ended by a simple text message. Just like that.

"Even though things in my career were going really well, it was incredibly difficult for me."