Leigh-Anne Pinnock broke down in tears as she reflected on her X Factor audition, saying she’s ‘so proud’ of her younger self.
The Little Mix star, who is celebrating the upcoming release of her new debut solo album, My Ego Told Me To, praised herself as a ‘fighter’ as she gave advice to aspiring singers.
Leigh-Anne’s emotional reflection comes after her former bandmate, Jesy Nelson, shared a number of bombshells about the pop group in her new Amazon Prime Video documentary.
Appearing on Capital XTRA Breakfast on Thursday morning, the 34-year-old watched her 2011 audition from the ITV reality show before being asked what she would tell her younger self.
‘I would say: you did it!,’ she told hosts Shayna Marie and Robert Bruce.
‘It’s crazy. I would say: keep that fight, keep that determination. Keep that thing that you have when people try and tell you can’t do something; keep that thing where you just keep saying, “Yes, I can,” and you do it,’ she said through tears.
‘It generally doesn’t matter what anyone says. Like, you have so much fight and belief in yourself, and you’re going to get there and you do. And it’s not going to be easy. But what I always do as well is I thank her, because she has always been that little, like, fire. And I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her and that go-getter thing that she always had.
‘And, yeah, that’s why I wanted to do this era, because I miss her. But yeah, she has always been there. She is a fighter, man. And she is so resilient. And we’re here.’
Little Mix’s breakup has been back in the spotlight after Jesy spoke for the first time about her reason to leave the band.
In November 2020, it was announced that Jesy would be taking a break, then months later, she confirmed she did not plan to return.
She claimed in her docuseries that she ‘felt like no one cared’ despite calling her bandmates ‘sisters’.
This sadly led to Jesy attempting to take her own life after sitting down and telling the band how she was feeling.
‘I just felt like no-one cared… And I remember one of their responses being like “are you done now, is that it?”‘ she claimed in the documentary.
In the years since the split, Jesy has not spoken to her bandmates and went on to unfollow the trio on social media.
After being embroiled in a blackfishing scandal, she was criticised for appearing in a video with Nicki Minaj, who appeared to call Leigh-Anne a ‘f**king clown’ as Jesy laughed in the background.
As Jesy struggled with her mental health, her former bandmates were left feeling hurt as a lawyer informed them of her exit, which she explained in the docuseries.
The trio were happy to speak to Jesy about it, but wanted a ‘therapist’ in the room, with Perrie previously acknowledging the fallout felt like a ‘dagger to the heart’.
‘We talk about it a lot, but I think in the moment we did everything we could, so some things just happen,’ Perrie previously told Alison Hammond.
She spoke candidly when admitting she ‘grieved’ the loss of Jesy, adding: ‘It is really sad; we haven’t spoken since she left.’
Jesy has since revealed that the girls reached out to her while she was pregnant with her twin daughters last year.
‘They reached out to me when I was pregnant, it was lovely because I never thought that would happen.
‘It made me really emotional. We’re grown women now, we’ve got kids, and I just think there are so many more important things in life. It’s just one of those things that need to be put to bed now.’
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