One Direction singer Liam Payne previously admitted his marriage plans to Attitude magazine, and his words created a firestorm of gossip about when he and girlfriend Sophia Smith will get engaged. But what it really showed to us is that Liam Payne respects his girlfriend too much to rush their relationship.

"We have talked about marriage, but 22 seems a bit young for us," Liam Payne told Attitude magazine about him and girlfriend Sophia Smith getting engaged. "Sophia needs to go off and do what she wants to do. I don't want her to be one of those stay-at-home girlfriends who doesn't really do much."

We couldn't agree more! Just look how fellow (now-ex) One Direction singer Zayn Malik and his Little Mix star girlfriend Perrie Edwards turned out when they got engaged at the tender age of 21 - they've since broke up, and Perrie has admitted that now she can focus on her music career.

According to International Business Times, Zayn is rumored to have ended their engagement via text, leaving his partner "devastated".

A source told People magazine at the time: "Perrie is being a trooper about it and putting on a brave face but she's devastated. She's doesn't know what he's thinking. She's going to go out and promote the new single but obviously the timing could not be worse, especially when she's going to be doing so many interviews?"

Rumours circulated that Perrie pressured Zayn to set a wedding date until he just couldn't take it anymore.

"She pushed and pushed and finally Zayn told her he didn't want to get married."

Liam Payne and Sophia Smith have been dating since June 2013.