Perrie Edwards chokes back tears as she addresses Jesy Nelson friendship

abruptly left Little Mix four years ago, and her former bandmate later opened up about the end of their friendship.

Jesy and Perrie, along with and , first shot to fame when they were put together as a band during the eighth series of The in 2011. During their time on the show, were mentored by N-Dubz star Tulisa Contostavlos, and they triumphantly became the first-ever girl group to win.

They went on to release huge hits such as 'Shout Out To My Ex', 'Wings', 'Black Magic' and 'Woman Like Me', quickly becoming one of the biggest girl groups in the UK. But ahead of their 10-year anniversary, Jesy announced she was quitting the band.

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Fast forward to 2024, Perrie gave a rare insight into Little Mix's rumoured feud and opened up about her friendship with Jesy while on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast. When asked how she felt about her former pal, Perrie shared: "I wrote a song about it, and it's about a friendship that I had, which I no longer have. I mentioned it in an interview, and so many people reached out to me.

"It's not really spoken about. When you hear a heartbreak song, it's about a relationship or a significant other, and it's like, 'Unbreak my heart'.

"But when it's a friend, you don't hear about it much in music, so I was like, 'I am going to write something about it because it's just as heartbreaking, if not worse'."

Perrie continued: "When you have been in that person's life for years, and they have had your back, and you have been through highs, lows, everything and all of these experiences, it's a wild ride, but you are in it together, and then poof, they're gone ... That is hard to deal with. I struggled a lot with that.

"It was really sad, but at the same time, these things happen, and it makes you think, 'Do we try to rectify the situation? Do I reach out? I feel like I should just stay away.' It's a really horrible dynamic to be in."

She added: "You can't force somebody to be friends with you. If they don't want to be friends, they don't want to be friends. But, yes, it's really hard."

Quitting Little Mix

After almost ten years together in December 2020, Jesy revealed her departure from the acclaimed band, citing that being in Little Mix had "taken a toll" on her mental health. Sharing the news in a statement on , Jesy wrote: "To all my Mixers. The past nine years in Little Mix has been the most incredible time of my life.

"We have achieved things I never thought possible. From winning our first Brit Award to our sold out shows at the O2. Making friends and fans all over the I cant thank you all enough form the bottom of my heart for making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. You have always been there to support and encourage me and I will never every forget it."

Jesy added: "The truth is recently being in the band has really taken a toll on my mental health. I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard. There comes a time in life when we need to reinvest in taking care of ourselves rather than focusing on making other people happy, and I feel like now is the time to begin the process. I need to spend some time with the people I love, doing thing that make me happy. I'm ready to embark on a new chapter in my life - I'm not sure what it's going to look like right now, but I hope you'll still be there to support me.

"I want to say thank you to everyone involved in our journey. All the hard work and dedication that went into making us a success. To every single fan who came to see us in concert, who listened to our songs and sung their hearts out, sent me messages and supported me along the way I want you to know I love you all so much and I could never have done this without you and I appreciate it endlessly. Most of all I want to say thank you to Jade, Perrie and Leigh-Anne for creating some of the most amazing memories I'l neve forget. I hope that you'll continue to fufill all of your dreams and keep making music that people love. Love Jesy."

'We are fully supportive of Jesy'

The three remaining Little Mixers followed with their own joint statement and wrote: "After an amazing 9 years together Jesy has made the decision to leave Little Mix. This is an incredibly sad time for all of us but we are fully supportive of Jesy. 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. We are still very much enjoying our Little Mix journey and the 3 of us are not ready for it to be over.

They added: "We know that Jesy leaving the group is going to be really upsetting news for our fans. We love you guys so much and are so grateful for your loyalty and continued support of all of us. We’re looking forward to seeing so many of you on tour. Love always, Jade, Perrie and Leigh-Anne xxx."

Rumoured feud

Speculation about a possible feud within Little Mix started to heat up following Jesy's departure from the band. Gossip around a potential rift was fuelled when Jesy didn’t publicly congratulate Leigh-Anne and Perrie on their announcements. Tensions seemed to come to a head a month later, in August 2021, as Jesy disclosed in an interview with that she had stopped speaking to Leigh-Anne, Perrie and Jade.

When asked if she was in touch with the girls, Jesy explained: "No, not as much. Not now. I think we all need time. It’s a big thing that’s happened. I still love them to pieces. They were like my sisters." Not giving up on her love for music, Jesy launched her own solo career with tracks like 'Boyz', featuring Nicki Minaj and 'Bad Thing'.

Things heated up in an alleged row when Jesy released the music video for her song 'Boyz', in which she was accused of Blackfishing – a term to describe a white person who alters their appearance to appear black or mixed-race. Later, Leigh-Anne was accused of slating Jesy in leaked direct messages shared by influencer NoHun. NoHun had asked fans if he should perform a routine to Jesy's debut solo track, and Leigh-Anne replied saying "no".

"Omg Leigh Anne I thought you were all ok," he replied, to which Leigh-Anne said: "Do a video about her being a black fish instead." She added: "She blocked us. Cut us off. Horrible person." even got involved in the row, and slammed Leigh-Anne as a "jealous clown" in a live video. Jesy added of the allegations in the live video with Nicki, who featured in the track: "Thank you babe, honestly that really means a lot," before explaining that she never wanted to "offend people of colour" from the music video.

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