Jaleesa M. Jones

USA TODAY

Zayn Malik made headlines in June when he revealed that anxiety precipitated his last-minute withdrawal from London’s Capital Summertime Ball festival. The announcement was met with mixed reactions, namely doubt.

In an excerpt from his memoir, Zayn, on shelves Tuesday, the solo artist and newly minted author opens up about how he coped with the painful rumors surrounding his revelation and why he decided to share his truth.

"One of my team members offered to write a statement saying that I’d been taken ill, but I didn’t want to do that," he begins. "I was done with putting out statements that masked what was really going on. I wanted to tell the truth. Anxiety is nothing to be ashamed of; it affects millions of people every day. I know I have fans out there who have been through this kind of thing, too, and I wanted to be honest for their sake, if nothing else."

Zayn goes on to explain that he has suffered from his anxiety since his One Direction days, but was able to effectively manage the condition within the "safety net of the band." But since going solo, the critically acclaimed Mind of Mine artist has struggled to navigate the heightened visibility. It took a toll, he explains, and "rather than hiding away, sugar-coating it, I knew I had to put it all out there."

He never imagined that his intimate confession would be met with skepticism. "I found it really frustrating that, even now that I was being upfront about what the issue was, some people still found reasons to doubt it," he writes. "But that’s the industry. It’s an aspect of this job that I have to deal with, and I’m trying to accept it."

But in the meantime, Zayn writes that he has found solidarity with fans, people who understood how crippling anxiety can be and how small it can make you feel, people who felt liberated to share their own experiences after he shared his.

"It felt as though some good had come from the situation."