Perrie Louise Edwards was born on 10 July 1993, and raised in the Whiteleas neighborhood of South Shields, Tyne and Wear, to parents Alexander Edwards and Deborah Duffy. She has an older brother named Jonnie, and a younger half-sister named Caitlin Edwards, on her father's side.
Her first audition was "You Oughta Know" by Alanis Morissette. Edwards attended Radipole Primary School in Weymouth, Dorset before moving back to South Shields. She is a graduate of St. Peter and Paul RC Primary School, in South Shields, and attended Mortimer Community College, also in South Shields, for five years, where she excelled in both academic and performance subjects. Edwards transferred and graduated from Newcastle College, where she received a BTEC in Performing Arts.
She began dating UK singer and former One Direction member Zayn Malik in May 2012. The couple got engaged in August 2013 but broke up in August 2015. She also had a brief romance with Skins actor Luke Pasqualino between August and October 2016. In February 2017, Edwards was confirmed to be dating footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.