Perrie Edwards escaped a "toxic" relationship which left her thinking she "didn't want to meet anybody"

She told Paul C Brunson on the We Need To Talk podcast: "I think definitely at the time I thought everything we experienced in our relationship was normal.

"Because it was my first relationship, first love. I was like, 'Oh, this is how it's supposed to feel. It's supposed to feel a little bit toxic. In some ways, this is probably normal, right?'

"And then when I became single, I was almost thinking, like, I never, ever want to go through that again.

"I didn't even want to meet anybody. I was like, that's me done. I don't think I could bear that pain."

However, she has since realised the truth, while it took her some time to get used to how Alex handled things in their relationship.

She explained: "Now, reflecting back, I'm thinking, oh, that probably wasn't good. And I've noticed it a lot.

"Like in the start of the relationship, I would handle things differently with Alex, and he'd come at it with such a level head that it would throw me."

After getting engaged to Alex in 2022, she opened up about how "laid back" he is.

She said: "Little things might happen, and I'd think, 'Oh, now he's going to kick off, he's not going to like this.'

"And I'd be like, 'Oh, this happened.' And he'd be like, 'Alright,' and it would throw me.

"He's very mature. He's very laid back. He's very levelheaded. He's not the type to get mad or get angry or get funny about things."

Perrie did not specify which past relationship she was talking about in the podcast.

She was previously engaged to former One Direction star Zayn Malik in 2013, but they broke up two years later.

In May, Zayn reflected on their romance and told Nylon magazine: "From 17 to 21, I was in a relationship. I was engaged and [planned to get] married and I didn't know anything about anything at that point.

"I thought I did, because I was 21. I was legally allowed to do everything, but I didn't know s***."

Elsewhere in the interview, Perrie revealed she and Alex have suffered two heartbreaking miscarriages.

The couple welcomed their first child Axel into the world in 2021, but months earlier they lost a baby, while a year after giving birth she found out she was pregnant again, but she tragically lost her baby at 24 weeks.

She said: "Axel's a rainbow baby. So I had a miscarriage very early on with my first ever pregnancy, and it was so early. I remember finding out I was pregnant.

"Obviously, I started bleeding not long after, and I went to the hospital and I had the scan and they were like, 'There's no baby.'

"And I was like, 'oh, I've made this up. Maybe I got a false positive or something.' And I remember being on my own at the appointments because nobody was there."

The second time, she learned of her pregnancy during rehearsals for Little Mix's final tour in 2022.

She recalled: "We went for what was a 20-week scan, but we were actually 22 weeks, and that was just the worst day of my life. Like horrendous.

"And I just knew something was wrong in the scan, and he just kept going over the same thing, over the same thing...

"I've never experienced an out-of-body experience where everything goes in slow motion."