I am quitting my Ph.D. after 16 months due to several reasons combined.
I got an interview for another Ph.D. in a different country. And It will leave a very bad impression if I say that I am quitting my Ph.D. after all these times. What should I say in the interview or how to say it in a better way in the interview? Otherwise, how should I explain the gap year (for these 16 months) in my CV?
Have anyone done something like this?
Can you please share your experience with me?

If you are leaving your first PhD for a second one, yes, it will definitely look very bad to your potential PhD interviewers. They will highly likely get turned off.

You could say that you were doing some research, but they will likely want to talk to your supervisors to verify. Do you have a friendly postdoc who could say some nice things about you? Did you do anything else during that time? Like volunteering, casual work, etc?

I wouldn’t mention the first PhD. I’d say I was spending time with family and preparing proposals for the PhD