Malala Yousafzai was not sold on marriage before she met her husband, Asser Malik.
“I never thought I would get married,” the Nobel Peace Prize winner told People in October 2025. “If you find the right person and you and your partner have mutual understanding about how this is going to be a journey together, and you will be looking after each other and making each other’s life happier than before it can work out really well.”
Yousafzai met Malik in 2018 while she was studying at Oxford. Over the next year, they grew closer — until Yousafzai finally confessed to her dad in summer 2019 that she liked Malik.
“‘I like him, Dad. I like him… romantically,’” she recalled telling her father in her 2025 memoir, Finding My Way, before they called her mom who was mad that he was not a Pashtun man.
Although Malala’s father didn’t say much, he suggested that they meet Malik over the summer if he was in town. ‘But we won’t announce the engagement until after your graduation,’” he told her. “I glared out the window, fuming at myself for bringing it up, at my dad for calling my mom, at my mom for being so small-minded, and at them both for bringing up engagements and husbands.”
Despite her opposition to marriage at first, Yousafzai and Malik went on to tie the knot in November 2021.
Keep scrolling to learn more about Yousafzai and Malik’s relationship timeline:
2018
Yousafzai met Malik while she was studying at Oxford and he was there visiting friends. They continued to develop a friendship — until they both started to have feelings for each other. The duo talked on the phone for hours everyday while she was still in college.
“We had become more than friends and we both acknowledged it—he called me ‘babe’ and said I looked beautiful in the pictures I sent him,” she wrote in her 2025 memoir Finding My Way.
Summer 2019
While Malik was in London visiting Yousafzai, she finally felt like it was time to tell her dad about their potential relationship — even though she knew her parents wouldn’t necessarily approve.
“‘Dad, you know…it’s hard to meet good people…like, people who have a good sense of humor but also find me funny,’” she wrote in her 2025 memoir. “He looked attentive, like he was trying to understand me. … ‘It’s just like when you meet someone and want to spend more time with them? Well, I guess…I guess, basically, I have met someone like that. He’s, uh, 29…he lives in Lahore, but comes to England in the summer to see his sister. And he works in cricket, which is great for me.’”
Yousafzai told her dad that she liked him before telling him to avoid speaking to her mom about anything.
“At first it seemed like he was about to ask a question. But he stopped himself, looked straight ahead and said nothing,” she recalled in the book. “Then I watched in disbelief as my dad, my lifelong confidant, pulled out his phone and called home. On the other end of the line, I heard my mom say, ‘Absolutely not! Does he even speak Pashto? She must marry a Pashtun man!’”
After the call, Yousafzai’s dad told her that if Malik was in town for the summer, he wanted to meet him.
“‘But we won’t announce the engagement until after your graduation,’” he explained.
July 2021
Two years after meeting, on the last day of their trip in Lake Placid, New York, Yousafzai told Malik that she was “ready to marry” him. The pair secretly got engaged.
November 2021
After Yousafzai graduated with a degree in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford, the couple tied the knot in a small Islamic ceremony at her parents’ home in Birmingham, England.
“Today marks a precious day in my life,” she shared via Instagram alongside photos of their wedding. “Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead.”
February 2023
Malik took to Instagram to share a sweet Valentine’s post in honor of Yousafzai.
“Feels like a good day to write about this. When I was in college in Lahore, a lot of our time was spent in these windows hanging out with friends once classes finished,” he captioned a photo of him and Yousafzai sitting on campus. “Coming back after years and sitting in the same place with Malala felt special. In her I found the most caring, supportive and beautiful partner. Here’s to many windows all over the world we get to sit in and I hear your funny jokes. TL;DR Pyaar dosti hai (Love is friendship) ♥️.”
September 2024
Malik supported Yousafzai at the release of her first film that she produced called The Last of the Sea Women.
“When you have a good hair day in Toronto and your wife is celebrating the premiere of her first feature film,” he shared via Instagram at the time.
June 2025
Yousafzai and Malik launched Recess Capital, an investment firm for women’s sports.
“For the past two and a half years, Malala and I have been building an investment platform that will prove how the women’s sports ecosystem has great investment opportunities but also with a mission of gender equity,” Malik wrote via Instagram. “Recess is a sports platform that invests in sports teams, leagues, and adjacent ventures with a mission of equity for women and girls in sports.”
Read the full article here
