Jesy Nelson came out of The X factor in 2011 and later joined girl group Little Mix.
Although she formed a brotherly bond with her bandmates, Jesy Nelson confessed that they weren’t in touch with each other after abruptly leaving the group following a secret suicide attempt in 2020.
The 34-year-old singer, who recently split from fiancé Zion Foster, revealed the painful decision to leave the band and her final interaction with remaining band members Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall in her raw and honest Amazon Prime documentary series, Jesy Nelson: Life after a little mixing.
Before having a discussion with the girls, I had to think about my legal situation: Can I even get out of this now? she remembers.
“Unfortunately, the lawyer ended up letting them know that I wanted to leave, before I could let them know, so I think they felt really hurt by that, and it should never have happened like that.
“I feel angry that this was taken away from me and I didn’t have a chance to explain why I couldn’t do this anymore.”
She added: “Mentally, I had prepared myself and I was like, ‘Okay, I want to sit down with the girls now and I want to talk to them and tell them why I did what I did and how I felt, and just really explain to them and try to make them understand how I felt.’
“And then my manager called, and she was like, ‘So, I talked to the girls, and they’re happy to chat with you, but they don’t feel comfortable in a room with you unless there’s a therapist there.’
‘I was like, ‘What? I just got out of the hospital, this is the time when I need you the most. I didn’t feel like they were my sisters. It’s been five years now; Every time I think about it, I say to myself, “Was it them, or was it management?” “I’ll never know because we never had this conversation.
“And then finally there was a phone call, and it was really awkward. It was so weird because it was like talking to strangers.
“It was the most uncomfortable phone call I’ve ever had, no one knew what to say, and it was the last time I spoke to them as a group.”
Despite the stilted goodbyes, Nelson, a mother of two, says being parents — Edwards and Pinnock also welcomed children — helped them find each other as friends.
