Leigh-Anne Pinnock has addressed her friendship with Jesy Nelson in rare comments following Little Mix’s split.
The two former X Factor stars have been rumoured to be at odds since Jesy, 34, laughed while Nicki Minaj mocked her ex-bandmate during a now-infamous livestream in 2021.
However, Leigh-Anne, also 34, has now voiced support for the ‘incredible’ Jesy after the Boyz singer’s twins were diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA).
On The Smallzy Show, she said she and bandmates Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards ‘obviously’ all reached out to Jesy when the news broke in January.
‘I think she’s really incredible for spreading that awareness,’ the Don’t Say Love singer said of her former bandmate’s struggle.
Jesy welcomed Ocean Jade and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster prematurely last May with her then-partner, Zion Foster.
The twins’ diagnosis means they will never regain the strength in their necks and will not be able to learn to walk, with Jesy revealing they will likely have a shortened life expectancy.
She has been campaigning for SMA screening to be included in the heel prick test at birth, as the girls’ symptoms were not noticed until they reached six months.
Leigh-Anne, who welcomed her own twin daughters in 2021, affirmed that the group will ‘always be there if we need each other’.
She continued: ‘Especially obviously with me, Jade, and Perrie, we’re super, super close, and I think you need that in this industry.
‘Knowing that you can reach out to people that are going through it too – we’re the only ones that know exactly what this experience is like – so to have that is so needed.’
The rift between Jesy and the rest of Little Mix has been a sore spot for all of the women since her sudden exit, which she brought up in her recent docuseries.
In the Amazon Prime Video show, she shed light on the depths her mental health had plunged to, which ultimately led to her quitting in December 2020.
She felt nobody in the band ‘cared’ about her, leading to attempts to take her own life. When she recovered, she decided she couldn’t stay in the band and continue to face such public scrutiny and comparisons to the other girls.
The remaining trio found out about Jesy’s choice through a lawyer, and when Jesy asked to have a discussion, they requested that a therapist be present, which she did not agree to.
In recent months, though, as three out of four members have started their own families and all have embarked on solo careers to great success, old wounds have started to heal.
Speaking on This Morning in February, Jesy confirmed to hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O’Leary that all three members had ‘reached out’ to her this year.
‘It’s been lovely,’ she said. ‘I feel like it’s very healing.’
‘They’re your sisters, aren’t they?’, Dermot asked.
‘Of course!’, Jesy agreed. ‘We were genuinely best friends, and things happen in life; it doesn’t always go how you think it’s going to, but three of us are mums now, I think we’ve all had time to heal; it’s been five, nearly six years, and I think it’s just one of those things that takes time.’
‘Who knows what will happen,’ she said of the possibility of reuniting. ‘But since they’ve been reaching out, it’s lovely. It’s definitely healed a part of me, for sure.’
Jesy went on to clarify that she did ‘love being in the band’ and ‘being with the girls’, insisting that her love of performing never faltered.
‘For me, it was the constant comparison and scrutiny that I used to get, but from the get-go, I had that. From the minute I was on X Factor, all the time. And it never left me.
‘I genuinely had some of the best times of my life (in Little Mix), but that part never left me, and that was the part that I could never really get over.
‘And I just think that, sometimes in life, as selfish as it may seem, you’ve gotta do what makes you happy, and that wasn’t making me internally happy. If I could’ve had it another way, I would have.’
Despite the ups and downs, Jesy has no regrets, as everything has ‘led [her] to [her] beautiful girls and where [she] is meant to be.’
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