Tuesday, December 23, 2014 11:57am ET by  
Comments (0)

, , , , , , , , , , , ,

One Direction lend support to gay fans: 'Don't be afraid to be who you truly are'

UK-based boyband One Direction have spoken out about self-respect and honesty, and encouraged their fans in the LGBT community to be strong when things get tough. 

Speaking to the London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard, member Zayn Malik explained that it's so important to remain true to yourself: "Just be yourself. If that’s who you are, that’s who you are and don’t be afraid to be the person that you are."

The heartthrob went onto add that he particularly admires Hollwood's Jake Gyllenhaal although he doesn't fancy the actor: "I wouldn’t necessarily say I have a crush on him, but I really appreciate Jake Gyllenhaal’s acting. I’ve seen him in a film called 'Prisoners'. He’s so sick."

Malik recently followed TV personality Claire Sweeney on Twitter and she revealed to the press that she was bombarded with messages after people noticed:

"I woke up one morning to be bombarded by messages and an extra 300 followers. And all these messages were saying ‘who are you?’, ‘what do you do?’, ‘why is Zayn following you?’ I didn’t know what they were talking about, but then I realised Zayn had followed me."

“I just direct messaged him to say it was very sweet to follow me, and I said ‘Congratulations on your success, but your fans are bombarding me, god knows what it’s like for you’. He said ‘sorry about that, I like [TV show] 60 Minute Makeover so I thought I’d follow you’.”

Follow us: @Pressparty on Twitter Pressparty on Facebook.

Watch One Direction performing a Christmas song on Jimmy Fallon's late night TV show here: