Harry Styles Devastated Over Zayn’s 1D Trash Talk: He Never Wanted To ‘Compete’ With Him

Zayn Malik is totally bumming Harry Styles out! As Zayn continues to blast One Direction in interviews, his former bandmate can’t believe the things he’s said. In fact, HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY learned that Harry never wanted to compete with Zayn!

With One Direction currently on their break, Zayn Malik, 23, doesn’t have to worry about his former band being in any sort of competition with him. That hasn’t stopped him from totally bashing 1D, though, and Harry Styles is super upset about that! Harry, 22, can’t help feeling like Zayn has completely turned on him and the other 1D guys since leaving the band — and that has Harry feeling pretty down!

“Harry feels betrayed because he was always there for Zayn when he really needed a friend. Behind the scenes, Harry was a steady rock for Zayn, always building up his confidence,” an insider revealed to HollywoodLife.com EXCLUSIVELY. “He never wanted to compete with Zayn, none of the guys wanted to compete with anyone. But Zayn was always really competitive and Harry just brushed it off as low self esteem. Nevertheless he was always a loyal friend to Zayn.”

Aww. As angry as Harry may be about Zayn’s betrayal, it sounds like he’s really hurting because of the lost friendship he once had with Zayn. Especially since Harry was apparently Zayn’s biggest supporter in the group!

But after all of the things Zayn has said about One Direction since going solo, it’s understandable that Harry would feel so hurt. Although the guys have hinted that Zayn didn’t seem very happy in his last several months with 1D, they probably didn’t see so many disses coming! Zayn admitted to Zane Lowe that he wanted out of the band “from the first year” and that he thought One Direction’s music was “never cool.” Ouch, Zayn!

Considering Zayn’s first solo single, “Pillowtalk,” shot straight to No. 1 — a feat One Direction has yet to accomplish — surely the competitive streak in Zayn is more prevalent than it was when he initially left 1D. And with his album, Mind of Mine, dropping March 25, that likely won’t be going away anytime soon…which unfortunately means Harry and Zayn probably won’t be making amends in the near future!

While 1D fans might be devastated to hear that, it’s actually what Zayn seems to want. Our source told us that Zayn always felt like he was “playing second fiddle” to Harry while he was in the group, which certainly played into Zayn’s desire to leave — despite Harry being such a great friend to Zayn.

Even if Zayn’s career ends up being more successful than One Direction’s, Harry doesn’t really care to compare their achievements. Frankly, Harry just wishes his former bandmate would acknowledge the fact that One Direction is the reason Zayn is famous now. No matter what Zayn says about 1D, maybe if he would just give them (or at least Harry) a little credit, Harry wouldn’t be so upset!

Do you think it’s fair for Harry to be upset with Zayn, HollywoodLifers? Did it ever seem like they were in competition with each other while they were in 1D together? Tell us below!