Zayn Malik "couldn't live without" his daughter.

The 'Pillow Talk' hitmaker shared a rare personal post on Instagram on Thursday (21.09.23) to mark little Khai's third birthday and he hailed his child - who he has with ex-girlfriend Gigi Hadid - "the most amazing soul" in a touching tribute.

Zayn shared a collage of Polaroid-style pictures, with Khai's face carefully covered by snowflakes, in which he held his daughter up while she blew out the candles on her birthday cakes, close-up photos of her Skittles and 'Frozen'-themed cakes, and two of them playing together.

He captioned his post: "Happy birthday to my everything, you are the most amazing soul I've ever known. Every day I get with you is a blessing that I cherish beyond words. 3 already!! Where has that time gone? my beautiful little girl, I couldn't live without you, thank you for all the love you bring to my life. [heart emoji] (sic)"

Gigi also paid a loving tribute to her little "bestie".

She wrote: "Have been celebrating our THREE YR OLD this week [sunshine, rainbow, lightning and sunflower emojis] + just so honored to get to be her mama, to get to see life through her !!!! Happy Birthday to my sweetest, smartest, spunkiest bestie !!!!!!!! [heart emoji] DREAM KID / love of my life[unicorn emojis] (sic)"

Her post was accompanied by a selection of pictures, including one of Khai's birthday breakfast, her 'Frozen' cake, one of them snuggling together when her daughter was a newborn, the little girl painting her mom's toenails, and one of them on the beach together.

Like Zayn's post, Khai's face was either covered or not visible from the angle of the photos which the 'Next In Fashion' star shared.

Earlier this year, Gigi spoke about the "very mom" morning routine she has with her daughter.

She told WSJ. magazine: "Whatever time she's waking up, I'm waking up. I have a very mom morning routine. I make her pancakes and sausages every day."

And the 28-year-old beauty joked she didn't need to find time to work out because of her daughter.

Asked about her exercise regime, she said: "Running after my two year old. We walk a lot. We do yoga together. With lifting her and running around all day and going to the park, I get moving."