The New York Post had a long piece last week about Zayn Malik and where it all went wrong. Some of the stuff is years-old stale tea, stuff from the One Direction days about how various band members couldn’t stand Zayn. The argument insiders are making now is that Zayn is such a chronic marijana smoker that it’s fundamentally changed his personality. They argue that Zayn has become incredibly paranoid and that paranoia makes him aggressive. Granted, I haven’t smoked pot in years and years, but I never felt aggressive when I was high. I *did* get paranoid a lot though. That’s one of the big reasons why I stopped getting high – I was tired of constantly feeling under threat and like I was hearing sirens. Some highlights from this NY Post piece:

His marijuana use: Close sources told The Post that the singer and former One Direction member has been known to smoke weed to the point that he becomes “aggressive” and “paranoid.”

The chip on Zayn’s shoulder: “Zayn feels like life is out to get him. He genuinely finds it hard to deal with the level of fame he had, and that comes out as if he’s ungrateful and arrogant,” said a music executive who has worked with him. “If he was a bit more open about talking about his issues, I think that people would warm to him.”

He’s always smoked a lot of weed: Malik freely admits it helps the “creative process … if you’re smoking a good weed,” and was seen smoking a joint while on tour with One Direction in South America in 2014. He was seen smoking marijuana in a 6 a.m. Instagram Live this January, prompting fans to wonder whether Khai was in the house. One insider who worked frequently with the band fondly known as 1D told The Post that Malik’s marijuana use got so bad that it made him “paranoid” — and led to former bandmate Harry Styles refusing to share a tour bus and private jet with him.

Zayn’s unhappiness in 1D: “Zayn wasn’t happy in the band, it wasn’t for him,” the insider said. “He didn’t like the whole constantly touring thing and being given a schedule. He was just so difficult that he wouldn’t turn up for stuff, like photo shoots or even gigs. He would block himself in the house, smoking loads of weed, and it made him really unreliable,” added the insider. According to another record executive who worked with the band: “You just didn’t know when Zayn was going to turn up, whether for a recording session or a concert.”

How marijuana affected him: The insider said: “In the beginning, Zayn was quite sweet. He just became a different person. When you are smoking weed to that extent, it really affects you. Zayn became aggressive. He was very aggressive towards the end of the band, having fierce rows with people he worked with. He never takes responsibility for anything — it’s always someone else’s fault.” Malik’s marijuana use “drove a wedge” between him and the other band members, the insider added. “He’d just be on the tour bus [smoking] all the way to the venue. It led Harry to get a separate tour bus with Niall and Liam — Louis would join Zayn. Harry wouldn’t fly with Zayn either.”

[From The NY Post]

Again, I’ll buy the idea that chronic, years-long marijuana use has changed his personality and made him paranoid. Weed really does affect some people that way. But what I don’t buy is that marijuana “made” Zayn aggressive. While this isn’t addressed by the Post’s sources, I wonder if Zayn is combining marijuana with alcohol – if there were alcohol issues combined with constantly being high and paranoid, that might be a better way to partially explain Zayn’s behavior.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid.