Jesy Nelson Says Another Little Mix Member Wanted to Leave the Group Before Her Exit: 'I Was Just Devastated'
- - Jesy Nelson Says Another Little Mix Member Wanted to Leave the Group Before Her Exit: 'I Was Just Devastated'
Jack IrvinFebruary 13, 2026 at 9:45 PM
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Jesy Nelson in October 2021 Joe Maher/Getty -
Jesy Nelson released the new Prime Video docuseries Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix this week
She claimed in one episode that another member of the group wanted to leave before her own exit in December 2020
"I’ve never been able to say — it was never actually my decision to leave first. Like, I actually didn’t want any of this to happen. This is my story of how it went," said Nelson
Jesy Nelson is getting candid about the events leading up to her departure from Little Mix.
The "Boyz" singer, 34, released the new Prime Video docuseries Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix this week, and she claimed in one episode that another member of the group — which also featured Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall — wanted to leave before Nelson's exit in December 2020.
"Whoever leaves first is always the person that gets the most s---," she said in the docuseries. "I’ve never been able to say — it was never actually my decision to leave first. Like, I actually didn’t want any of this to happen. This is my story of how it went."
Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall in July 2019 Justin Lloyd/Newspix/Getty
Nelson explained the group experienced "happy times" from 2017 to 2019, during which they released the LM5 album and embarked on multiple European tours. "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," she recalled.
"I remember we got called in for a meeting. When we’re 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," she said. "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."
She didn't specify who wanted to leave the group: "I don't think that's for me to say, because they still haven't said. So that's not for me to say."
Nelson admitted she "probably didn't even handle it very well," due to feeling "devastated" by the news. "I couldn't really in that moment, maybe give her the understanding and the support maybe that she needed in that moment," she said. "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."
At the time, Little Mix decided to put together a plan for the group's final tour. "And then COVID happened," said Nelson, noting that tour plans got postponed. "Unfortunately, that is then when everything just got messy."
During the heat of the pandemic, Nelson felt free from her previously "crazy" schedule and like she was able to simply live and not work — despite knowing "the band was coming to an end, ‘cause one of the girls had made the decision to leave."
Soon, Nelson realized she wasn't happy anymore. Little Mix released the single "Holiday" in July 2020. The music video shoot led her to look into the quickest ways to lose weight, as she wasn't dieting in the pandemic. In the docuseries, her friend Charlotte said the video was the “straw that broke the camel’s back.”
The group then started working on the competition series Little Mix The Search, which started airing in September 2020, and what was meant to be their final tour was further postponed. “I just remember being like, ‘I cannot do it. I physically cannot do it,’” Nelson said.
She felt like their relationships in the group shifted, and her own mental health declined. She developed a fear of performing and missed multiple professional group requirements due to experiencing panic attacks.
Nelson recalled sitting down with Edwards, Pinnock and Thirlwall to explain her feelings and thinking “no one cared.” She said, "I remember one of their responses being like, ‘Are you done now?’ Is that It?’”
Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jesy Nelson and Jade Thirlwall in December 2018
JM Enternational/Getty
She started feeling very "alone," skipped an episode of The Search and ended up in the hospital at a very low point before realizing she needed to exit the group.
"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, I needed to figure out where I was legally," explained Nelson. "Unfortunately the lawyer ended up letting them know I wanted to leave before I could even let them know."
She continued, "So I think they felt really hurt by that, and it should never have played out like that. And I feel mad that was taken away from me, and like, I didn't get my opportunity to explain why I couldn't do this anymore."
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
