Zayn Malik: I'm sick of fame

Zayn Malik is reportedly "sick of fame".

The One Direction heartthrob has been at the centre of a media storm over the last week, after he missed part of the promotional push for the group's new album Four in America. A US TV host asked his bandmates about rumours of drug abuse, with Zayn and a representative later slamming that line of questioning.

Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn have barely had any time off lately. They've been on their Where We Are Tour, are now promoting their record and have another series of shows planned for 2015.

"Zayn's exhausted and sick of fame," an insider told British magazine Heat. "And awful situations like this one - when he's accused of being a drug addict - are exactly why he's had enough.

"Zayn gets overwhelmed and has always found fame really hard to deal with. It hits him more at certain times than others and it's bad right now. He gets so homesick. His family are so close and he hates that he never gets to see them."

Apparently these feelings are part of the reason why the 21-year-old star proposed to his Little Mix girlfriend Perrie Edwards last year. He hoped it would make him feel more settled, but unfortunately he's been so busy it hasn't really had that effect.

"Zayn feels like he's given so much of his life to the band and is cut off from everything," the source said. "I think he thought proposing to Perrie would mean an escape - that they could move to the country and have pets and be normal. But things haven't panned out like that yet."