Nelson

Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, which is out on Amazon Prime, follows Jesy’s life after she left Little Mix back in 2020, including her reflections on fame, pressure, and her own personal truth about that period

Jesy Nelson’s Amazon Prime Video documentary, which is out today (Friday February 13) is a major new six-part series.

Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix follows Jesy’s life after she left Little Mix back in 2020, including her reflections on fame, pressure, and her own personal truth about that period. It’s her most candid account yet of why she departed the group and how she’s processed everything that happened. Another central focus of the documentary is Jesy’s pregnancy with her twin girls, Ocean Jade and Story. The cameras follow the 34-year-old Romford star through what became a high-risk pregnancy including complications like twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome and emergency medical moments.

After the birth is also covered, when Jesy’s daughters were diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1 — a severe, progressive genetic condition that causes muscle weakness.

Jesy uses the documentary to share her family’s real-time experience with this diagnosis and to raise awareness about it, including campaigning for expanded newborn screening in the NHS.

Besides the physical journey, the Amazon Prime series also revisits her personal and emotional challenges, including struggles with the pressure of fame, mental health battles, and what it’s been like stepping back from one of the UK’s biggest pop acts.

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Many fans have been excited to watch the documentary, however some have confessed online they ‘don’t think they can watch it’ for one reason – that it will leave them too emotional.

One person wrote: “I’m not gonna handle this well I’m already emotional about it.”

While another added: “My heart. I don’t even think I can watch this. I’m already crying.”

A third chimed in: “I’m gonna weep aren’t I,” while a fourth added: “She deserves to tell her side of the story after years of being silent.”

Jesy recently confessed that she considered leaving Little Mix after just two years as she struggled to cope with the pressure and the spotlight after winning The X Factor.

However, she went on to spend a decade in the band before quitting.

Jesy said: “That [leaving] presented itself far before I made that decision.

“There was a time where I was like ‘Oh, I want to leave’ and I remember sitting down with my family… and it was actually because of my brother that in the end I stayed.”

She added: “The first time I wanted to leave I remember I went home and we were kinda weighing up the [pros and cons]… and at that point we weren’t even like at our biggest.

“We were, it had only been like two years, but we were still big. Everyone still knew who Little Mix were so it was like ‘if you leave now, what are you going to do?’”

Speak on the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast, Jesy also praised her brother for his advice that ultimately kept her in the band and for encouraging her to make as much money as she could off of Little Mix‘s fame.

“My brother was like ‘you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for and I think you can stick this out for another few years,” she explained.

AFTER five long years, the dark truth behind Jesy Nelson’s feud with Little Mix has been laid bare for the first time – as the singer reveals she made a secret suicide attempt days before quitting the group.

Jesy — whose abrupt exit from the girl band has been shrouded in mystery until now — claimed her cry for help in the lead-up to her overdose was ignored by bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall.

Thankfully, she was saved by her quick-thinking mum Jan, who raised the alarm after Jesy fell unconscious while on the phone to her.

Speaking about her daughter’s near-death experience for the first time,

Jan said: “For a few days before, she had just been really down and not talking much. She wanted to be on her own quite a lot.

“I got a gut feeling that something wasn’t right. I kept ringing and ­ringing, but there was no answer.

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“She eventually answered the phone and the way she talking was really slurry.

“I heard the phone drop and didn’t hear anything else — I knew she’d done something.”

It was the second time Jesy had tried to take her own life following an overdose in 2013, which she ­previously opened up about in her NTA-winning BBC documentary Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out.

She later said that online abuse over her appearance left her unable to “tolerate the pain any more”.

‘You’ve got to stop’

Her boyfriend at the time, Diversity dancer Jordan Banjo, called an ambulance and she was taken to ­hospital, but one week later was told to “pull it together” to film a video for Little Mix’s single Salute.

Jesy, 34, admits: “It all just got too much for me. My manager was like, ‘Come on Jesy, you need to pull ­yourself together.’

“So it just got swept under the rug and everything went back to normal.”

Reflecting on her second attempt seven years later — just days before she quit Little Mix — Jesy said: “I was so sad. I was so down.”

The star was rushed to hospital by ambulance and missed the final of Little Mix’s BBC talent show The Search, with host Chris Ramsey ­telling fans she had fallen ill.

The singer recalled: “I knew after coming out of hospital that I ­mentally couldn’t do it [be in the band] any more.”

Jesy had sunk into a deep depression after returning to work following the 2020 pandemic.

Recalling the painful breakdown of Little Mix’s friendship days before her overdose, Jesy said: “I sat ­everyone down to explain how I was feeling and I remember one of the responses being, ‘Are you done now? Is that it?’

“She [one of the girls] was like, ‘Can I go now?’”

Fighting back tears, Jesy added: “That made me feel really alone. I felt like there was no point. That no one cared.”

Hidden turmoil within the group led to Jesy trying to take her own life, with her mum Jan insisting: “I can see why they [the other Little Mix members] did get angry at times.

“It’s hard to work with someone who is always down when you are always happy.

“But I personally believe that at Jesy’s lowest of low times, the girls were not really there for her and I think that’s why she’s so sad now.”

In her new Prime Video docuseries Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, Jesy also makes the bombshell claim that another bandmate tried to quit a year before her shock exit.

Unbeknown to fans, the girls had agreed their next tour would be their last, but a two-year delay pushed their “sisterhood” to the brink.

After Jesy’s second suicide attempt, her mum said: “I kept cuddling her and said, ‘Right, that’s it now. No more.

I didn’t get my opportunity to explain why I couldn’t do this any more. I feel mad that that was taken away from me

Jesy Nelson

“You’ve got to stop doing what makes you unhappy’.”

While in hospital recovering, Jesy made the difficult decision to quit.

But after seeking legal advice, she felt betrayed when her lawyer ­delivered the news to the rest of ­Little Mix without her consent.

Jesy said: “I think they felt really hurt about that and it should never have played out like that.

“I didn’t get my opportunity to explain why I couldn’t do this any more. I feel mad that that was taken away from me.”

When Jesy later attempted to meet up with the girls, she claims her manager said that Leigh-Anne, Perrie and Jade “would only feel comfortable if there was a therapist present”.

Jesy tearfully said of Little Mix: “I didn’t feel like they were my sisters [any more]. I’d just come out of the hospital. This is the time I need you the most.”

Despite what she’d been through with her mental health battle, Jesy never saw the girls again.

Leigh-Anne went on to say the girls were left so “traumatised” by their bandmate’s exit they needed counselling.

Jesy explained: “Eventually there was a phone call.

“It was really awkward and so weird. It was like talking to strangers.

“It was the most uncomfortable phone call of my life. No one knew what to say.

“And that’s the last time I ever spoke to them as a group. It’s been five years now and every time I think about it, I think, was it them or was it the management? I’ll never know.”

‘Me and Jade cried’

Speaking for the first time about the end of Little Mix being planned a year before her exit when one of the other girls announced they wanted to walk away, Jesy said: “I thought everyone was in a really good place, but I was wrong.

“We got called in for a meeting and I just had this gut feeling that it wasn’t going to be good.

“One of the girls had decided they didn’t want to be in the band any more. I remember feeling my whole world had fallen apart.

“It was a really sad day — me and Jade really cried. I was devastated.”

When pushed to reveal the name of singer who wanted to quit at the beginning of 2020, Jesy added: “I don’t think that’s for me to say because they still haven’t said.

“It’s been really hard to not speak out about this.

“I thought we’d be together ­forever. It was never my decision to leave first.”

When Covid hit, the band’s end date was pushed back by two years.

“That’s when everything got messy,” Jesy said.

“I knew the band was coming to an end because one of the girls had made the decision to leave and I felt like I was being fake.

“I got this very quick realisation that I wasn’t happy.”

Jesy felt “swarmed with insecurities” after returning to the limelight following lockdown.

She began to feel fearful of performing — with panic attacks leading her to pull out of live performances including a BBC Radio One Live Lounge and as a judge on The Search.

Her vocals are also missing from tracks on Little Mix’s final album.

Jesy continued: “I had mentally checked out. It was like my body was telling me, ‘Stop now’.

“That was the moment I thought, I can’t do this any more.

“I just remember thinking, I ­cannot last another two years.

“I felt like it [the relationship with the girls] had shifted.

“There would be days I would cry and be a miserable bitch.

“All those little things build up and build up and they do get to a boiling point.”

Explaining why she is speaking out now, Jesy insists she wants to draw a line under the speculation.

She said: “I really f*ing hate that there were nine and a bit really beautiful years that I had with the girls and I really didn’t want for us to be known for that one sh***y part.

‘Sad and hurt’

“It overrode every amazing thing that we ever did and what we stood for.

“We were genuinely like sisters and I think that is what’s so sad about this whole thing.

“As the years have gone on I see both sides. I see why they would be sad and hurt.”

Little Mix became the first group to win X Factor in 2011 before making UK singles chart history with five No1s and selling more than 75million records worldwide.

Jesy walked out of the girl band in November 2020 and two years later released her debut single Boyz with rapper Nicki Minaj.

On the track Mine, she paired up with Zion Foster — who later became the father of her two children before they split in January.

Little Mix went on an extended hiatus in 2022 to pursue solo careers and start families.

Despite never reconnecting in person again, in May last year Jesy’s former bandmates got back in touch after she became pregnant with identical twins.

Nine-month-old girls Ocean and Story have since been diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 — the most severe form of a rare disease affecting muscle strength and movement.

Jesy recently told The Sun there was hope of reconciliation between her and the girls after the five- year feud was “healed” by her children arriving.

In the docuseries, Jesy said: “They reached out to me when I was pregnant.

“It was lovely because I never thought that would happen. It made me really emotional.

“We’re grown women. We’ve got kids. I just think there are so many more important things in life.

“It’s just one of those things that needs to be put to bed now.”

• Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix is available on Prime Video from today.

JESY Nelson has revealed that she wanted to leave Little Mix after just two years of being in the band.

The singer, 34, joined the popular girl group after winning The X Factor in 2011, subsequently catapulting her into fame.

The group toured all over the world, accumulated numerous number one hits, and were only one year off celebrating their 10th anniversary as a band – when Jesy decided to call it quits.

But now Jesy’s shared that she actually wanted to leave Little Mix seven years sooner than she did.

Speaking on the Great Company with Jamie Laing podcast, Ms Nelson sat across the table wearing a knitted camouflage patterned zip-up.

Jamie praised her for having the courage to go her own way, and then she explained how doing that “had presented itself” way before she made the final decision to leave.

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“That [leaving] presented itself far before I made that decision,” Jesy said.

“There was a time where I was like ‘oh, I want to leave’ and I remember sitting down with my family… and it was actually because of my brother that in the end I stayed.”

She continued: “The first time I wanted to leave I remember I went home and we were kinda weighing up the [pros and cons]… and at that point we weren’t even like at our biggest.

“We were, it had only been like two years, but we were still big. Everyone still knew who Little Mix were so it was like ‘if you leave now, what are you going to do?’”

Her brother praised her strength, encouraging her to stay, but also encouraging her to make as much money as she could off of Little Mix‘s fame.

“My brother was like ‘you are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for and I think you can stick this out for another few years.’

“I’m going to be completely honest about what he said, he said ‘just make as much money as you can, you’ve got a chance to really change your family’s life. If somewhere in you can do this for another few years, do it, and then leave, because you’ll never get this opportunity again.’”

Jesy continued to note that her brother “was right” and said she’s now grateful that she stayed and could “change her family’s life” – including getting extra treatments for her twin girls.

She gave birth to Ocean and Story last year and heartbreakingly discovered that they both have spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA), and may never learn how to walk.

If SMA is caught early preventative treatments can assist newborn’s quality of life. However, the symptoms weren’t realised instantly in Jesy’s children, who will now suffer with unknown permanent difficulties.

Jesy did get her twins the treatment they needed, but they were at that point around 8 months old.

The brave mother has since been rallying for SMA screening to be mandatory after every birth to stop the 50 babies per year born with it from suffering.

Around the time of the devastating diagnosis Jesy and her partner Zion called time on their relationship.

They continue to co-parent their daughters during an incredibly tough time.

JESY Nelson has described the terrifying moment her mum raised the alarm about her twins’ SMA struggle.

The pop star secretly moved to Cornwall after giving birth to the two little girls following a high-risk pregnancy.

She says her mum Janice noticed Ocean and Story’s lack of leg movement on a trip to visit them.

Speaking on Jamie Laing’s podcast Great Company with Jesy Nelson, the former Little Mix star said:  “Me and Zion decided we wanted to move to Cornwall because our babies had been through all this trauma, and we just wanted them to grow up in a peaceful setting and just be around the sea and live like a kid.

“I honestly was not even taking notice of their legs because they’re my first set of children, so I don’t know how they should be moving their legs, or what they should and shouldn’t be doing anyway.

“Because we had just moved six hours away, my mum wasn’t with me every day.

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“I think she noticed how much it had deteriorated, and she said, ‘Jesy, they don’t move their legs very much. Have you noticed that?’

“She kept comparing them to my nephew, but I said George was a full time baby and because the twins were premature you can’t compare them.

“She said, ‘I know Jesy, but something’s not right’.

“My mum is such a such a worrier. She worries about everything – a bit like me, she thinks the worst in every situation.

“And so I just thought that was her over-worrying then a week went by, and I remember changing their nappy and just thinking ‘oh, god, they actually don’t move their legs at all’.

“For some reason they just stopped.”

Fearing her mum was right, Jesy booked to see a paediatrician straight away.

After being told the babies needed blood tests and a brain scan, Jesy left the doctors in tears.

She was later told the identical twins have Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 — the most severe form of a rare disease affecting muscle strength and movement.

Jesy is now working tirelessly to raise awareness of SMA and campaigning for the condition to be added to the NHS newborn heel-prick test, which currently screens for ten other conditions.

She spoke to The Sun about the diagnosis and her new new six-part docuseries on Prime Video, which follows her journey into motherhood as she reflects back on her time in Little Mix.

It’s the first time she’s opened up about quitting the band in 2020.

Read our full interview with Jesy about hope of reconciling with her former Little Mix friends and mending her relationship with Simon Cowell here.

• Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix will be aired on Prime Video from February 13.
• Listen to Great Company with Jesy Nelson whereever you get your podcasts.

FORMER Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has spoken candidly about the ‘heartbreaking’ health challenges her twin daughters have faced.

The singer and campaigner has opened up about how her babies, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe, were failed to be diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA Type 1) despite numerous consultations with healthcare professionals.

In an interview on Sky News’ The UK Tonight programme, the former girl band star admitted that the condition was only picked up on when they were six months old – by her mum.

Although health visitors and GPs performed regular checks, the early symptoms of the rare genetic disease – specifically a lack of leg movement – went unnoticed.

The 34-year-old teared up as she explained her campaign for the UK to include SMA screening in the routine newborn heel prick test.

Speaking to host Sarah-Jane Mee, she said: “People are starting to take notice and take it seriously, but it never should have took for me to come along for it to be taken seriously and that’s the part that makes me feel so angry.

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“This isn’t just anything. This is a matter of life or death for someone’s child and who gets to decide that?

“Who has the right to decide whether my child is going to be in a wheelchair or not when we’ve literally had three life-changing treatments since 2018?

“The fact that it’s still a thing and we’re still having to scream and shout about it is just mad to me.”

She promised: “I will not stop on my socials talking about it. Trying to do as much TV… yes, it’s big but there’ll still be lots of other people that don’t know about this, so I’ve got to stay noisy.

Following a conversation with UK Health Secretary Wes Streeting, she admitted: “It is so difficult… it’s like, yes, I had that open and honest conversation with you and you said all the right things, but what are you going to do now?

“Now that I’m not in front of you, are you going to continue?”

She reflected on the missed opportunities during early check-ups and urged: “The fact that there were healthcare visitors around my house a lot and we took them to the GP and not one of them saw any of the signs.

“Thank God for my mum, because I dread to think what position I’d be in now if my mum hadn’t have said anything to me.

“It’s one of them things that I constantly go over and I have to sometimes stop myself from doing it because I will drive myself insane.”

Jesy added that the painful diagnosis has changed her outlook for her daughters’ future.

She said: “I don’t want people to think that if you’ve got disability that that defines you because it definitely doesn’t.

“But I’ll openly say if I could have it the other way, I definitely would. Why wouldn’t I want my children to walk and live a fulfilled life?

“I just pray that it does get changed and it does become part of the heel prick test, because the amount of heartbreak and hurt that I’ve had to endure, I’ll never be able to explain it.”

The Boyz hitmaker was previously diagnosed with twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS).

The high-risk pregnancy included a 10-week hospital stay and life-saving emergency surgery.

The Brit Award-winner has launched a petition to force the Government to enforce a non- invasive £4 blood test at birth.

Symptoms of SMA depend on which type of condition, but the most common include floppy or weak arms and legs, as well as swallowing and breathing problems.

If untreated, the life expectancy of a baby with SMA Type 1 is two years and intervention is ­considered critical in limiting long-term impacts.

It could help avoid 33 babies a year left needing a wheelchair for life.

The former Little Mix star has had a tough time after she split from her fiance Zion Foster.

Jesy and Zion first began dating in 2022 after years of friendship.

In January 2025 they announced they were expecting identical twins.

The couple parted ways following the birth of their twin daughters, but remain close as co-parents.

NEWLY single Jesy Nelson today joked that she’s “not always a haggard mum” as she revealed her glam makeover.

The former Little Mix star, 34, has had a tough time lately after she split from her fiance Zion Foster, and also having her twin daughters being diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1.

But today the mum-of-two showed off her glam makeover, as she enjoyed some pamper time after a gruelling month.

Jesy looked incredible in the photo, which she posted on her Instagram.

The singer had her trademark curly hair styled to perfection, and her make-up had been expertly applied.

The star completed her sexy look with a lowcut black crop top.

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Jesy captioned her post: “Not always a haggard old Mum thanks to my @zoejamesmakeup.”

TOUGH TIME

Jesy treated herself to the glam makeover after enduring an incredibly tough time lately.

This includes her break-up with fiance Zion, after only getting engaged four months ago.

When news of their split emerged, a source told The Sun: “Jesy and Zion remain friends and are fully focused on their daughters.”

The insider added that the former couple are “united in co-parenting”, Zion and Jesy have been focusing on the wellbeing of their twins.

The new parents have been coming to terms with their two daughters, Ocean and Story, being diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1 — the most severe form of a rare disease affecting muscle strength and movement.

Jesy and Zion have been told it is unlikely the girls will ever walk, and may face serious breathing and swallowing difficulties.

Symptoms of SMA depend on which type of condition, but the most common include floppy or weak arms and legs, as well as swallowing and breathing problems.

If untreated, the life expectancy of a baby with SMA Type 1 is two years.

Early intervention is ­considered critical in limiting long-term impacts.

If the twins had been tested and treated in time, there is a chance they would have avoided disability.

It is now unlikely they will regain their neck strength after the disease caused nerve cells to die, leading to progressive muscle weakness.

Ocean and Story are under the care of Great Ormond Street Hospital in ­central London and have received treatment, including a one-off gene-therapy infusion approved by the NHS.

‘TRAUMATIC MOMENTS’

Meanwhile, in the wake of their split, Jesy’s ex Zion shared a candid post about “traumatic moments” and “stress”.

It came following the release of the first trailer for the singer’s new Amazon Prime docu-series; Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, Zion has shared an insight into what went on behind the cameras.

Sharing the trailer, Zion wrote: “It’s finally here, coming to your screens via @primevideouk & @navybee.tv.

“The past year and a half has been a rollercoaster. When @jesynelson and I started this project we couldn’t see the road ahead, but to see how it all played out and having it filmed simply feels like God’s plan. The show is raw, authentic and honest.”

Continuing to reference their daughters Ocean Jade and Story Munroe’s diagnosis, Zion admitted it has been a “traumatic” time.

He said: “As a new family we were under immense pressure and stress. Alot of traumatic moments but nonetheless we made it here today. I believe this is only the beginning of our journey.

“Praying for clarity, peace and growth so we can continue to navigate the challenges we face; and give Ocean and Story the best support system possible. God’s in control”.