Yolanda Hadid feels Zayn Malik is like a "son" to her.

Yolanda and Gigi Hadid

Yolanda and Gigi Hadid

The 54-year-old former model gets along "great" with the ex-One Direction singer, who is dating her daughter Gigi Hadid, and is enjoying being a protective figure for the 25-year-old star while he is away from the UK.

She said: "He's a beautiful human being from Bradford, England. He's from the same background that I'm from, him and I get along great and he's like a son to me. It's all good.

"He has no family here and he's so far away so I understand that life because I lived that life. I think that I'm just a momma to him."

Yolanda just wants her kids - Gigi, 22, Bella, 21, and 18-year-old Anwar - to "be happy" in life, and is hopeful she has given them a suitable start so they can achieve their goals.

She said: "When you raise your children, I hope I instilled the best in them to make the right choices and turn to me and say, 'I love this man', then I'm going to love them too.

"This is their journey and I'm just here to support both of them as long as they make each other happy, working through things then I'm happy."

But Yolanda has no plans to start putting pressure on Zayn to pop the question to Gigi anytime soon.

She added to MailOnline: "We'll see, I truly believe they're all on their own journey. It's not in my hands anymore so I'm just sitting back and letting it all unfold."

Yolanda recently admitted she wants her children to "make changes in the world" rather than just post selfies.

She said: "I ask my kids every day, 'God has provided you with this platform, what are you going to do with it?' It's not about posting pretty selfies. I want them to be good human beings who can make changes in the world."