Section: Showbiz:Celebrity

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.

MUMMY MAKEOVER

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AFTERMATH

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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.

“I have been silent for years and made every effort to keep these matters private.

“Unfortunately, my parents and their team have continued to go to the press, leaving me with no choice but to speak for myself and tell the truth about only some of the lies that have been printed.

“I do not want to reconcile with my family. I’m not being controlled, I’m standing up for myself for the first time in my life.

“For my entire life, my parents have controlled narratives in the press about our family.

“The performative social media posts, family events and inauthentic relationships have been a fixture of the life I was born into.

“Recently, I have seen with my own eyes the lengths that they’ll go through to place countless lies in the media, mostly at the expense of innocent people, to preserve their own facade.

“But I believe the truth always comes out.

“My parents have been trying endlessly to ruin my relationship since before my wedding, and it hasn’t stopped.

“My mum cancelled making Nicola’s dress in the eleventh hour despite how excited she was to wear her design, forcing her to urgently find a new dress.

“Weeks before our big day, my parents repeatedly pressured and attempted to bribe me into signing away the rights to my name, which would have affected me, my wife, and our future children.

“They were adamant on me signing before my wedding date because then the terms of the deal would be initiated. My holdout affected the payday, and they have never treated me the same since.

“During the wedding planning, my mum went so far as to call me ‘evil’ because Nicola and I chose to include my Nanny Sandra, and Nicola’s Naunni at our table, because they both didn’t have their husbands.

“Both of our parents had their own tables equally adjacent to ours.

“The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was ‘not blood’ and ‘not family’.

“Since the moment I started standing up for myself with my family, I’ve received endless attacks from my parents, both privately and publicly, that were sent to the press on their orders.

“Even my brothers were sent to attack me on social media, before they ultimately blocked me out of nowhere this last Summer.

“My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance to a romantic love song.

“In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead.

“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.

“We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.

“My wife has been consistently disrespected by my family, no matter how hard we’ve tried to come together as one.

“My mum has repeatedly invited women from my past into our lives in ways that were clearly intended to make us both uncomfortable.

“Despite this, we still travelled to London for my dad’s birthday and were rejected for a week as we waited in our hotel room trying to plan quality time with him.

“He refused all of our attempts, unless it was at his big birthday party with a hundred guests and cameras at every corner.

“When he finally agreed to see me, it was under the condition that Nicola wasn’t invited. It was a slap in the face.

“Later, when my family travelled to LA, they refused to see me at all.

“My family values public promotion and endorsements above all else. Brand Beckham comes first.

“Family ‘love’ is decided by how much you post on social media, or how quickly you drop everything to show up and pose for a family photo opp, even if it’s at the expense of our professional obligations.

“We’ve gone out of our way for years to show up and support at every fashion show, every party, and every press activity to show “our perfect family.”

“But the one time my wife asked for my mum’s support to save displaced dogs during the LA fires, my mum refused.

“The narrative that my wife controls me is completely backwards. I have been controlled by my parents for most of my life. I grew up with overwhelming anxiety.

“For the first time in my life, since stepping away from my family, that anxiety has disappeared. I wake up every morning grateful for the life I chose, and have found peace and relief.

“My wife and I do not want a life shaped by image, press, or manipulation.

“All we want peace, privacy and happiness for us and our future family.”

THE EX of Katie Price’s new husband Lee Andrews has sent the star an urgent warning – begging her to “run”.

The former glamour model, 47, stunned fans when she revealed that she had married businessman Lee days after meeting him.

The mother-of-five got hitched for a fourth time in a quiet ceremony in Dubai with no loved ones present.

It came just hours after Katie revealed they had got engaged, calling it a “wedding at first sight”.

But The Sun revealed this week Lee had proposed to fitness enthusiast Alana Percival four months ago — in exactly the same way.

And now Alana has urged Katie to proceed with caution.

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Alana took to social media today to post photos of her on a beach holiday.

But her caption came with a serious message, which read: “Catching flights not fiancés – lucky escape.

“Somebody with your ex right now thinking they found The One,” while tagging Katie in the post.

Alana added: “More to come today’s news is just a warm up.

“You guys wanted to know what he is all about? Well let me start to tell you.”

She then concluded with the hashtag ‘Run for the hills’.

Alana then followed up with an Instagram post as she slammed her ex for his behaviour during their brief relationship.

She claimed: “This man had me shrinking myself, making me not want to speak up.

“Telling me not to speak to my friends about how he acted because they all told me to leave him.

“He even ruined some of my friendships, pulled me away from people I love by protecting him.”

She continued: “Made unlimited promises making me look as bad as him because I was on his side.

“Finally I get to speak freely and tell you all.

“I hope Katie listens, I wish I had listened to all the others that warned me.”

She added: “Please ladies if you experience anything like this run a mile and more. Keep running.”

EXES WARNING

Lee was branded a lying swindler who preys on women by Alana and a second woman Crystal Janke, who he dated at the same time last year. 

In a bombshell interview, Alana, 32, and Crystal, 40, told how they were hoodwinked by the businessman — who we revealed had faked meeting stars including Elon Musk and Kim Kardashian using AI. 

Alana said: “Katie should run for the hills. Lee is a liar, a narcissist and I think he’s a manipulator. 

“Once I tried to leave him, he told me had a heart condition and was living on borrowed time. 

“Lee doesn’t know what’s fact and what’s fiction. 

“It’s worrying because I think he believes his own lies.” 

Last week Katie posted photos of her lover’s wedding proposal, with flowers spelling “Will you marry me?” at Dubai’s Burj Khalifa hotel. 

Incredibly, Alana, who works in property, said she got engaged to him there last September in the same way.

And two weeks before that, Crystal believed Andrews was going to ask her to marry him there too.

The family nurse practitioner from Texas said: “I was supposed to meet Lee at the Burj Khalifa two weeks before he proposed to Alana.

Incredibly, Alana, who works in property, said she got engaged to him there last September in the same way.

And two weeks before that, Crystal believed Andrews was going to ask her to marry him there too.

The family nurse practitioner from Texas said: “I was supposed to meet Lee at the Burj Khalifa two weeks before he proposed to Alana.

“We’d looked at rings, he told me he wanted to marry me. 

“Luckily I had to cancel the trip because I was too busy with work. 

“He would have proposed to both of us. Who does that?” 

Mum-of-five Katie, who flew back from Dubai to her home in Horsham, West Sussex, on Monday, is understood to be standing by her new husband despite a string of disturbing allegations. 

The pair struck up a relationship on social media before their whirlwind wedding last week, days after they met in person. 

And Alana and Crystal fear history may repeat itself. 

Andrews connected with Alana on Facebook in March last year and struck up an online conversation with Crystal two months later. 

They allege Andrews proceeded to date them at the same time without the other knowing.

Lee told The Sun: “I did have a relationship with Alana. 

“I deny all plausibility to her claims and also with Crystal Janke who I have never even met.” 

KATHERINE Ryan has revealed there’s already a documentary in the works about Brooklyn Beckham’s explosive attack on parents David and Victoria – and she’s been asked to take part. 

Following 26-year-old Brooklyn’s sensational statement on Instagram, Katherine, 42, branded him an “ungrateful nepo-baby” while discussing the situation on her Telling Everybody Everything podcast. 

In the latest episode she discussed Brooklyn and wife Nicola’s wedding DJ Fat Tony appearing on This Morning to spill the beans on the eldest Beckham child’s claims Victoria “danced inappropriately” during the ceremony. 

Katherine said: “Do you know what I love about this is that? He’s like, ‘yeah, I do a lot of parties for the Beckhams’. Well, that was your last one. Like, what are you doing?

‘You can’t go on This Morning and spill the tea on the nation’s hottest goss. I can tell you firsthand that somebody somewhere is already making a documentary about this because I was invited to go on it. And I was like, me?

What do I know? I had an opinion. And, by the way, a lot of people feel passionately about this one way or another. I gave my opinion, which was very much team Beckham’s… well, team Victoria anyway because David, you know how they love an evil woman.

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Katherine continued: “David is hardly mentioned. It’s all like mommy dearest kind of narcissist stuff, which I think is really unfair. Like I said, last week, they made the best choice that they could with the information they had at the time.

“And that’s just what every parent does. We’re not perfect. We’re fallible.”

In his six-slide rant, Brooklyn accused Victoria of ruining his wedding and “humiliating” him.

He wrote: “My mum hijacked my first dance with my wife, which had been planned weeks in advance to a romantic song.

“In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife, but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me.

“She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone. I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life.”

Last night the Beckham family put on a united front in Paris as Victoria was honoured with a prestigious award.

Meanwhile Brooklyn and Nicola – who were not in attendance – raised eyebrows when they posted a loved-up TikTok at the same time as Posh’s big moment.