Zayn Malik leaves One Direction world tour

ZAYN Malik has walked out on the band during their world tour, citing stress. So is this a minor hiccup or the beginning of the end of the world’s biggest boy band?

File - Zayn Malik flies home from One Direction tour with stress in this Tuesday, Aug. 20, 2013 file photo Zayn Malik arrives for the UK Premiere of 'One Direction: This Is Us 3D' at a central London cinema, (Photo by Jonathan Short/Invision/AP, file)

ONE Direction is one man down on its world tour.

The boy band’s publicist says a stressed Zayn Malik is flying home to Britain.

Publicist Simon Jones said Thursday that “Zayn has been signed off with stress and is flying back to the U.K. to recuperate.”

He said the band will continue with upcoming performances in Manila, Philippines, and Jakarta, Indonesia, as part of the On the Road Again tour.

It was not clear whether Malik would rejoin the tour for three scheduled dates in South Africa starting March 28.

And then there were four.

Malik’s departure comes a day after he hit back on Twitter at rumours of trouble in his relationship with fiancee Perrie Edwards of the band Little Mix after he was photographed with another woman. He tweeted: “I’m 22 years old ... I love a girl named Perrie Edwards.”

This week, authorities in the Philippines said they were imposing a $5,000 “weed bond” on Malik and fellow band member Louis Tomlinson, with the money to be forfeited if they are caught using or promoting illegal drugs.

Malik and Tomlinson appeared in a video, which circulated online last year, in which they appeared to smoke cannabis and joke about drug use.

What a day

— Liam (@Real_Liam_Payne) March 19, 2015

Originally published as Zayn Malik leaves One Direction world tour