Gigi On Why Her Relationship With Zayn Works

Gigi Hadid and Zayn Malik are both relatively young (he's 23, she's 21), but their relationship is seriously mature. For example, when Malik revealed to the world in June that he has such intense anxiety that it can make it difficult for him to perform live, Hadid supported her boyfriend by penning a genuinely heartfelt and truly understanding open letter. And in a new interview with Evening Standard magazine, Hadid discusses her relationship with Malik and makes an important point as to why it works for them — a revelation that comes with growing up.

While explaining that the two enjoy cooking together, the model and music video maven made a point to note that the reason their relationship works so well is because they share many of the same interests outside of the entertainment industry — something, apparently, that neither of them had in their previous relationships.

"For the first time, we are both in a relationship where we have very similar interests outside of work and that is really important," she told the magazine. "We cook a lot together and do art together and we’re each other’s best friends."

"We both feel we can talk about anything and learn a lot from one another," she added.

Hadid speaks the truth: Shared interests are pretty much at the center of any healthy relationship. And when you work in the same (or a similar) field, it's easy to get wrapped up in work and industry-related convos — to the point where you may not even realize that at the end of the day, you don't really have much in common other than just having parallel careers. Not only do these two spend a lot of time participating in their favorite hobbies together (seriously, this article contains some food porn-worthy descriptions of their meals), it's awesome that the lines of communication are so open and they feel like they can tell each other "anything." It's one of the most important — if not the most important — factors in a romantic relationship.

While the purpose of Hadid's comment was to explain why she and Malik are good together, there was also some subtle shade thrown at their exes (most likely Cody Simpson and Joe Jonas for her, and Perrie Edwards for him). The obvious implication there is that Hadid and Malik didn't have that same outside-of-work connection with their past significant others, but they have it with each other — a life lesson that you learn as you get older, have various relationships, and realize what it is that you truly want in a romantic partner. It's a realization that comes with maturity.

Whether the shade is intentional or not (TBH, Hadid seems pretty secure within herself and her relationship so I really see no need to purposely be shading their exes), it's clear that the main point of her comment is to point out exactly why she and Malik get along so well. And that's pretty awesome to see.

A night in cooking and making art with Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid? To be a fly on that wall, for sure...