Rebecca Ferguson claims  her relationship with One Direction's Zayn Malik received criticism because people are 'sexist'.

'Heaven' star Rebecca ended her relationship after just four months of dating the 1D star. When discussing the romance and the issues the couple faced when they were together, she told Now;

"Let's be fair, if it was a lad who was 24 dating an 18-year-old girl, everyone would have just said, 'Oh, that's your girlfriend - nice one', and that would have been the end of it,"  "I think the reaction to us was a bit sexist."

However Ms Ferguson herself has criticised the 15 year gap between couple Harry Styles and Xtra Factor presenter Caroline Flack saying 

"I think there's something not right about Caroline and Harry," she said. "For me and Zayn it was different, because he was 18 so at least he could drive over to pick me up, we could go for a drink in a bar together and he was old enough to make his own decisions. 

"But Harry is too young for that and there is so much more of an age gap between them."

Is this all just a bit contradictory? What do you think, is age simply nothing but a number or should the 1D guys look for someone their age?

Rebecca's single 'Too Good To Lose' will be the next release from her album Heaven.