Liam Payne has said a potential One Direction reunion would not happen for at least two years.
The singer added that any comeback for the boyband would not include Zayn Malik, who quit in 2015 before the group went on indefinite hiatus in 2016.
Payne told The Jonathan Ross Show: “Everybody outwardly in the press has said something but we haven’t really spoken as a collective together.
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“All I can say is, through album cycles and single cycles, I see everybody putting songs out at the moment, I don’t think for at least the next two years it’s going to happen.”
Addressing whether Malik might come back, he said: “No, I don’t think that’ll ever happen.
“When he left, it wasn’t on great terms so I don’t feel like it’s a thing.
“If he didn’t want to be here, he shouldn’t be here, which is fine. Like I say, good for him, he’s gone off and is doing his own thing and he’s doing really well so I don’t want to mess with his stuff. We did a whole stadium tour without him so I feel like it’s fine.”
Payne added that he is still close with bandmate Louis Tomlinson, even though that was not always the case.
He said: “I feel like me and Louis always had the most connection through everything. There was a point where me and Louis did not get on at all, we absolutely hated each other.
“There was huge friction. At the start of it, me and him just didn’t click at all… Then we kind of bonded together.
“Bless him, Louis has been through so much in the last few years ever since the band ended and whenever I have a problem, whenever he has a problem, we always call each other about it and make sure we check in.
“He has been really great for the last few years. It’s nice having a brother that you can lean on who knows exactly what you’ve been through.”
Discussing his other bandmates, he said: “I speak to Niall (Horan) every so often. I haven’t spoken to Harry (Styles) in a long time now. Zayn (Malik) left so I haven’t seen him since then. I always feel like Zayn didn’t really feel being there, if that makes sense.
“We all had a good time. There were moments when it was absolute bliss but then obviously there were moments where it was like, ‘This is awful’.
“For him, I just think there were more moments where he didn’t really enjoy what he was doing. Fair play to him, he went off and did his own thing and he’s doing really well.”
Payne also heaped praise on his former partner Cheryl, who is mother to their son Bear.
He said: “She is a fantastic mum, I can’t complain, she’s absolutely awesome.
“She doesn’t get on to me when I’m out working, doing different things, she understands, we do the very same job so it’s not that different for us but yeah, she’s awesome.
“He comes over to my house every so often and we just hang out. He is literally the most easy-going child. I think you put pressure on yourself as a dad sometimes, especially it’s hard to connect with a two-year-old, they will laugh at anything.
“He had a real rap phase where he was buzzing off listening to (rap). When we put rap music on, he’d be up (dancing).”
He continued: “He has learnt how to say ‘sushi’ which really bothered me. He came in the house and I was eating sushi and he sat on my lap, looked at the table of sushi, took out his dummy and went ‘Mmm, sushis’. I didn’t know what sushi was until I was 22!”
The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday October 26 at 10.10pm on ITV.