In comments sure to lead to widespread speculation amongst fans, Jesy told how the band could have ended very differently if it wasn’t for the lockdown in 2020.
Jesy Nelson has stunned Little Mix fans by insisting she was not the first band member to quit the girl group. Speaking out about her decision to leave in 2020 she said the first thing to spark her exit was actually a meeting the year before when an unnamed member of the group announced she wanted out.
The news shocked Jesy and changed her mindset about Little Mix forever. As well as Jesy, 34, the band was made up of Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall and enjoyed five number one songs. Jesy says: “2019 was like, really happy times. I feel it was like we were just at the peak of our career. To me, everyone was just like in a good place. But actually, I was wrong. I remember we got called in for a meeting. When we are called in for a meeting, it’s either going to be something amazing or something really bad, and I just had this gut feeling it wasn’t going to be good. One of the girls had decided that they didn’t want to be in the band anymore. And I just remember feeling like my whole world had just fell apart. It was just a really sad day, and me and Jade really cried.”
Asked on her Prime Video series if she can name the girl who was quitting at that point, Jesy replies: “I don’t think that’s for me to say, because they still haven’t said. So that’s not for me to say.” Jesy admits she was “devastated” by the news but also did not cope with it well. She adds: “I probably didn’t even handle it very well, because I was just like devastated, and I couldn’t really in that moment, maybe give her the understanding and the support maybe that she needed in that moment. And that sounds really selfish, because obviously that person was really feeling and going through something. But at that time, I just remember thinking I need to mentally prepare myself now for Little Mix ending.”
After the meeting, the girls and management made a plan for a big final tour and Jesy says she began to get ready for the end of the band, which had been their life for a decade. But as they were gearing up to hit the road again for a last hurrah, the country went into lockdown due to covid which prolonged everything.
READ MORE: Jesy Nelson wanted to quit Little Mix after just two years in the bandREAD MORE: Jesy Nelson tried to end her own life in her final days with Little Mix
Jesy loved the freedom of lockdown and felt no anxiety or pressure that she had as a pop star. It meant when she returned to work she struggled to be in the spotlight again. The planned final tour kept being pushed back and would not finished for two years. And this combined with other pressures meant Jesy could not cope and ended up being the first one to leave.
Shortly before her exit she struggled with mental health issues and hit rock bottom and was rushed to A&E by her worried mum. Jesy was not on the final of Little Mix TV show The Search and around this time she was in hospital recovering after her mum’s frantic calls and 999 dash.
Her mum Janice tells the new series: “I Just kept cuddling her and just can remember saying ‘that’s it now, that’s it. No more. You’ve got to stop doing what’s making unhappy’.”
Looking back, Jesy says: “I just was so sad, I was so down. I knew from that moment anyway, of coming out of hospital that I mentally couldn’t do it. Before I could even have a discussion with the girls…the lawyer let them know I wanted to leave.
“So I think they felt really hurt by that, and it should never have played out like that. And I feel like mad that was taken away from me, and like, I didn’t get my opportunity to explain why I couldn’t do this anymore.”
In November 2020, Jesy had announced she was taking an “extended” break from the pop group for “private medical reasons”. It came after she missed the final of the girl group’s BBC One talent show The Search, and their hosting of the MTV European Music Awards.
She then put out an additional statement in December confirming she was leaving the band saying it had “taken a toll on my mental health”.
At the time her bandmates said it was “an incredibly sad time for all of us but we are fully supportive of Jesy”. They added: “We love her very much and agree that it is so important that she does what is right for her mental health and well-being.”
After Jesy left, the band went on The Confetti tour in 2022 and then went on hiatus and have since gone onto have solo careers.
* The series Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix is available on Prime Video from today. If you’re struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch
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