Rebecca Ferguson: The reaction to my relationship with Zayn Malik was sexist

The former X Factor couple broke up last July

Rebecca Ferguson: The reaction to my relationship with Zayn Malik was sexist Image Rebecca Ferguson is mum to Lillie, 7, and Karl, 4

Rebecca Ferguson thinks people were unfair to criticise her for dating teen One Direction star Zayn Malik when he was 18.

The X Factor pair got together in March last year and Rebecca, who is 6 years older than Zayn, now 19, thinks the public would've been more accepting if she was a guy.

'Let's be fair, if it was a lad who was 24 dating an 18-year-old girl, everyone would have just said: "Oh, that's your girlfriend – nice one", and that would have been the end of it,' says Rebecca, now 25.

'I think the reaction to us was a bit sexist.'

Despite this, Rebecca still thinks 32-year-old Xtra Factor presenter Caroline Flack's relationship with Zayn's band mate Harry Styles, 17, 'isn't right'.

'There is so much more of an age gap between them,' she says.

Rebecca Ferguson: The reaction to my relationship with Zayn Malik was sexist Image