Former Little Mix singer Jesy Nelson has said that she was deeply unhappy during her ten years as a member of the chart-topping UK girl band.
30-year-old Nelson left the group, who rose to fame after winning X Factor, in December of 2020 and in a new interview she has revealed she felt "trapped" and pressurised by pop stardom.
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Speaking on Reign with Josh Smith, Nelson said, "I don't think people knew that I was really, truly unhappy for quite a long time, like, 10 years of my life.
"Don't get me wrong, I had times when there were moments when I really loved it. But it felt like there was way more times when I was sad than I was happy. I don't think people realise how hard it is to be in a girl band."
She added, "I feel like a lot of people think it's selfish that I've left the group, and it really affected me at the start. I really didn't want to upset people and I didn't want people to think that about me.
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"But I don't care anymore because it was ten years of my life that I was very unhappy with. And I needed to take myself out of that and genuinely do what's going to make me happy. And some people may not understand that, but you live once, and you have to do what makes you happy."
Nelson says she now feels liberated and is about to release her first solo song, a collaboration with Nicki Minaj entitled Boyz.
