Zayn Malik has to be 'straight up' about anxiety struggles

Zayn Malik copes with his anxiety by being "straight up and honest" in his day-to-day life.

The 24-year-old singer has been open with his own battle against the condition, which has led to him pulling out of gigs and curbing his socialising.

And as he continues to struggle with his anxiety, Zayn has learned that being honest with his nearest and dearest is the best way of helping himself.

Asked during an interview with Us Weekly magazine about how he copes, Zayn replied: "Just being straight up. Just being honest about everything, explaining what it is that makes you feel uncomfortable, what it is that you’re cool with... And making sure that all of that is in order and everyone’s got a clear understanding of what that is."

For the Pillow Talk singer, going public with his condition was the best thing he could have done. As well as giving him peace of mind, Zayn liked that the revelation allowed his fans to understand him more.

"I feel like it was only a positive impact on everything that happened after it and people now have a better perspective on where I was coming from at the time and just an understanding that it wasn’t coming from necessarily being ungrateful, shall we say, or not aware of the opportunities that were in front of me, it was just me struggling with being able to actually be there,” he mused. "I’m definitely glad I got that off my chest, as anybody is when you feel like you’re keeping something from someone you have to speak about it and clear up the air."

Zayn has also been blown away by the support he has received from his supporters since coming forward with his anxiety battle. But it's not just fans that have praised the former One Direction star for speaking so publicly about his issues.

"The crazy thing for me was, the thing people that I didn’t expect to speak to me about that spoke to me about it, random people, like older people that had read the book, and they were like ‘I really respect you speaking about that, it takes a lot of strength and a lot of confidence in yourself to be able to just be like 'this is what it is, this is how it was, this is how I’m feeling'," Zayn said.

"That was really cool to get that reaction because I didn’t necessarily do it for that reason. I just did it because I felt like I needed to do it. So when you get a nice reaction in return it’s like a bonus, it’s a cool feeling."