Los Angeles, Jun 21 (IANS): Singer Zayn Malik says he got no special treatment as a celebrity when he was part of the band One Direction, and indeed he once had to go through many security checks in America because of his "name" and other things.

He revealed that he was subjected to a string of security checks at an airport in the US, which resulted in him being detained for three hours upon landing because of ethnicity, reports mirror.co.uk.

"The first time I came to America, I had three security checks before I got on the plane," Malik said.

"First they said that I'd been randomly selected, then they said it was something to do with my name, it was flagging something on their system. It was like a movie, they kept me there for three hours, questioning me about all kinds of crazy stuff. I was 17, jet-lagged off the plane and confused. The same thing happened the next time too," he added.

Malik who is a British Muslim in the entertainment industry has a "great sense of pride".

He is also acutely aware of his "responsibility" because of this and he doesn't want to be "defined" by his religion or background.