Zayn Malik's sister has reminded everyone he's just "human".
The One Direction star bowed out of some of the band's tour dates yesterday, stating stress as the reason. It comes shortly after speculation he'd been unfaithful to his Little Mix fiancée Perrie Edwards and reports he and bandmate Louis Tomlinson were asked to post £3,000 bonds as a guarantee they wouldn't do drugs while in the Philippines as part of the tour.
Now the 22-year-old's younger sister Waliyha has taken to Instagram to fight his corner, although her message appears now to have been removed.
"Don't worry guys, Zayn is going to be okay very soon. All the stress has just gotten to him because of the rumours and hatred he has heard and received," she explained alongside a photo of the two of them.
"It's really hurting him, some people are just giving him to much. People need to realize my brother is human to, stop hating him because he hasn't done anything to anybody, except for defending himself because of what people heard of what he did, but it isn't true.
"I love my brother to death, and I do not want to lose him for anything, it hurts me to see him not feeling good.
"Please pray for my brother, please help him because I know he will be okay. please stop sending him hate and getting on him for what he has "did" (sic)."
A spokesperson yesterday confirmed Zayn's departure to British newspaper The Sun. He will miss three of the band's remaining concerts on the Asian leg of the tour.
Neither Zayn nor bandmates Louis, Harry Styles, Niall Horan or Liam Payne have explicitly commented on the news, with Liam simply tweeting: "What a day."
Yesterday's news not only stirred up One Direction fans - bookies have also responded to the latest development. Bookmaker Coral slashed the odds of the band splitting up in half, into 3-1 from 6-1.
"The latest scandal surrounding Zayn has sent the betting into meltdown and the odds on the group going in different directions have been cut in half," a spokeswoman for the chain said.
