One Direction - Zayn Malik Quits One Direction Tour Over Family Death

Zayn Malik Quits One Direction Tour Over Family Death

Zayn Malik has pulled out of One Direction's North America tour following the sudden death of his aunt.

The teen heartthrob immediately travelled back to the UK yesterday (09.02.12) to be with his family after hearing the news and he will miss some dates on the tour - where the group are supporting boyband Big Time Rush - in order to attend her funeral.

Zayn's bandmate Harry Styles wrote on twitter: ''Zayn has suffered a loss in his family & has had to go home for a few days so won't be at our next shows in the US...

''Our thoughts are with him and his family at this sad time.''

The three other band members Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan and Liam Payne all retweeted the message.

Fans quickly started tweeting about the singer with the trending topic #StayStrongZayn created in his honor.

Although he didn't reference the death directly on his twitter page, Zayn did retweet a message from a fan which read: ''God has no Phone, but I talk to him. He has no Facebook, but he is still my friend. He does not have a twitter, but I still follow him. (sic)''