Gigi Hadid struggled to "play it cool" on her first date with boyfriend Zayn Malik.

Gigi Hadid

Gigi Hadid

The 21-year-old model and the former One Direction singer have been dating for almost a year, and has admitted that despite trying not to give too much away on their first date, she struggled to keep it together as the pair "connected really quickly".

She said during an appearance on 'The Ellen Degeneres Show': "We actually met at a friend's birthday party a few years ago. Then, he was in New York to come to the Victoria's Secret show... and ended up not coming.

"I was like, 'I'll play it cool, I'll go to the after party.' He wasn't there. And then later that week, we ended up going on our first date.

"We played it cool for like ten minutes, and then I was like, 'You're really cute.' We connected, like, really quickly."

Meanwhile, the Victoria's Secret model recently revealed she likes to keep her evenings with the 24-year-old 'Pillowtalk' hitmaker fairly casual as she's always so tired from all the travelling around the world for her job.

She said: "When I'm in Los Angeles I mostly stay in because it's my time off and I like being with my boyfriend and doing art and cooking.

"We like late-night movies and we order from this amazing place that does lattes and gingerbread cookies. I need coffee to stay up.

"I'm always like, 'Babe, let's go to a movie.' Then I fall asleep halfway through and he's like, 'You've seen the first half of every movie out there and you have no idea how any of them end.'"

Gigi previously confessed she and Zayn are "each others' best friends".

Asked what she finds most attractive about her boyfriend, she said: "I would say his brain. For the first time, we are both in a relationship where we have very similar interests outside of work and that is really important.

"We cook a lot together and do art together and we're each others' best friends. We both feel we can talk about anything and learn a lot from one another."