Jesy Nelson is a role model for millions of girls who follow Little Mix. They look up to her and the other members of the band, however being a role model comes with a lot of pressure… especially when your rise to fame was riddled with bullying.
Jesy, 28, has opened up to her fans in an extremely candid documentary, Odd One Out, explaining how the online trolls attacking her during her first five years in the band, nearly lead her to take her own life.
“Seven in ten young people have experienced cyberbullying. I was one of them and it completely ruined my life,” the singer told the camera for BBC Three, explaining why she decided to make this documentary.
WATCH: Jesy Nelson explains how social media nearly killed her, in her new extremely candid documentary, “Odd One Out”:
“Hi I’m Jesy Nelson from Little Mix and I’ve made a documentary for BCC Three,” she begins.
“It’s me telling my story of online trolling, and the online trolling that I suffered in the first five years of Little Mix.”
Jesy goes on to explain how in 2011, when she, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock were put into the girl group on X-Factor, they were all told they had to have social media.
“The whole world had an opinion on me, and they weren’t good ones,” she continued.
On the screen, Jesy shows real-life comments that she once received, including being fat-shamed, called an attention seeker, and even going as far as telling her to take her own life.
“I was known as the fat, ugly one. It literally consumed every part of me.”
Band member Jade weighed in, recounting how “You just had to sort of watch this amazing funny girl sort of become a bit like a broken doll it was horrible.”
Jesy said that it all lead her to an incident where she attempted suicide in November of 2013.
Thankfully, her boyfriend at the time saved her an called an ambulance.
“I just remember thinking, ‘I just need this to go away, I’m going to end this,'” the singer explained to The Sun.
Thankfully, Jesy is much better now and on a path to have her story heard, as a way to help others.
“I think it’s important now because social media is such a huge part of everyone’s lives like you can say one nasty comment and think they’re not gonna see it or it doesn’t mean anything to you… but it does. It affects people massively,” she explains.
“I wanted to make it [the documentary] so that people know if you talk to people and you get the right help you will be able to feel better again one day,” Jesy shares.
Jesy isn’t the only member of the band that has opened up about major struggles she has faced.
Jade Thirlwall opened up to fans in 2016 that she had suffered from an eating disorder, in the band’s book Our World.
She revealed it all started when she was 13 years old, discussing that her experience with bullies and a particular death in the family lead her to lose a dramatic amount of weight and be hospitalised.
“My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don’t think I really cared about what was happening to me,” she admitted. “I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear.”
Need help? Call Lifeline on 131 114, visit www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/get-help-home, or call beyondblue on 1300 224 636.
If you would like to talk to someone about mental health, you can call the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 or Headspace on 1800 650 890.
If you or someone you know is affected by an eating disorder, call the Butterfly Foundation on 1800 33 4673 or visit their website here.
If you are in immediate danger, call 000.
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