Jesy Nelson reveals she attempted suicide days before leaving Little Mix and claims bandmates ignored her cries for help

Her sudden departure from the chart-topping girl group in November 2020 had remained unexplained until now.

Ms Nelson alleges that bandmates Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Perrie Edwards and Jade Thirlwall failed to respond to her cry for help in the period leading up to her overdose.

The singer was taken to hospital by ambulance and subsequently missed the final of Little Mix's BBC talent competition The Search, with presenter Chris Ramsey informing viewers at the time that she had become unwell.

Her mother, Jan, has spoken publicly about her daughter's near-fatal experience for the first time in the documentary.

"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," Jan recalled.

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

When Ms Nelson eventually picked up, her speech was slurred, and Jan heard the phone drop before the line went silent.

"I knew she'd done something," her mother said.

Jan's quick thinking in raising the alarm saved her daughter's life after Jesy lost consciousness during the call.

This marked the second occasion Ms Nelson had attempted suicide, following an overdose in 2013 which she previously discussed in her NTA-winning BBC documentary Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out.

She has attributed that earlier attempt to relentless online abuse about her appearance.

Ms Nelson described the devastating moment she attempted to share her struggles with her fellow band members shortly before her overdose.

"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 recounts in the documentary.

"She was like, 'Can I go now?'"

The singer becomes visibly emotional as she reflects on the exchange.

"That made me feel really alone. I felt like there was no point. That no one cared," she added, fighting back tears.

Her mother Jan offered her own perspective on the group dynamics, acknowledging that working alongside someone experiencing depression must have been challenging for the others.

She said: "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."

The documentary also contains the startling revelation that one of Ms Nelson's bandmates had expressed a desire to leave the group approximately 12 months prior to her own exit.

"We got called in for a meeting and I just had this gut feeling that it wasn't going to be good," Ms Nelson recalled.

"One of the girls had decided they didn't want to be in the band anymore. I remember feeling my whole world had fallen apart."

She described the day as deeply upsetting, noting that she and Jade Thirlwall both wept at the news.

When pressed to identify which member wanted to depart, Ms Nelson declined, saying it was not her place to reveal something they had never publicly acknowledged.

The group had privately agreed their forthcoming tour would be their final one together, but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed their planned conclusion by two years.

"That's when everything got messy," Ms Nelson admitted.

Despite the five-year estrangement, the singer's former bandmates made contact when she fell pregnant with identical twins last May.

She revealed in the docuseries: "They reached out to me when I was pregnant.

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

Her daughters, Ocean and Story, now nine months old, have since received a diagnosis of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1, the most severe form of the rare genetic condition affecting muscle strength and movement.

Ms Nelson believes the arrival of her children has helped heal the rift between herself and the other members of Little Mix.

"We're grown women. We've got kids. I just think there are so many more important things in life," she reflected.

"It's just one of those things that needs to be put to bed now."

GB News has approached Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards for comment.

For emotional support, you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.