THE woman who was pictured with Zayn Malik shortly before he quit One Direction has said she received death threats from the band's fans.

Lauren Richardson, 26, who will take part in ITV2 dating series Love Island, said the photograph in March of the community sports officer holding hands with Malik in Thailand was innocent.

Online rumours prompted Zayn, who is engaged to Little Mix singer Perrie Edwards, to tweet: "I'm 22 years old, I love a girl named Perrie Edwards. And there's a lot of jealous f***s in this world I'm sorry for what it looks like x."

Lauren told a national newspaper: "It got so bad at one point. There were death threats and people saying I'm a home-wrecker and, 'I want to find you'.

"There was a lot of hate behind everything. I was so scared. You think, 'Are they actually going to find me?'

"It was just an innocent picture. Nothing else happened. He is a handsome lad but it is not something I would dive into."

Zayn, who grew up in East Bowling, Bradford, flew home from the boyband's world tour in March with "stress" before suddenly quitting the group, saying he wanted to be a "normal 22-year-old".

His former bandmates admitted they were angry when they found out but have since mended their relationship.