{"id":3441,"date":"2019-09-09T10:23:32","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T10:23:32","guid":{"rendered":"\/flatmate-HQ\/?p=3441"},"modified":"2019-09-09T10:23:33","modified_gmt":"2019-09-09T10:23:33","slug":"jesy-nelson-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/flatmate-HQ\/jesy-nelson-mental-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson on Mental Health and Online Bullying"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a thought-provoking new BBC Three documentary<\/a>, 28-year-old Jesy Nelson reveals her painful experience with online bullying which led her to attempt suicide, right at the start of her career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jesy Nelson at the Brit Awards, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The singer, alongside bandmates Perrie Edwards, Jade Thrilwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, won The X Factor<\/em> in 2011, but her newfound fame and fandom came with a hidden dark side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had about 101 Facebook messages in my inbox, and the first one that came up was from some random man, saying: \u2018You are the ugliest thing I\u2019ve seen in my life, you do not deserve to be in this girl band. You deserve to die,\u2019” Jesy says in the documentary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was devastating to Jesy, a bubbly and talented young woman on the cusp of an amazing career, who’d never previously had issues with body image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt became the worst time of my life,\u201d she says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t just known as one of the singers in Little Mix, I was known as \u2018the fat, ugly one\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jesy and her bandmates, Perrie Edwards, Jade Thrilwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, on stage<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As messages like this persisted, during and after her time on The X Factor<\/em>, she developed depression and an eating disorder. She avoided events where she might be photographed, and would dread big performances where her appearance would be scrutinised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking to The Guardian<\/em><\/a>, Jesy reveals how obsessed she became with the criticism, actively searching for it online and not being able to register all the positive comments she was also receiving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a routine of waking up, going on Twitter, searching for the worst things I could about myself. I\u2019d type in the search bar: \u2018Jesy fat\u2019, or \u2018Jesy ugly\u2019, and see what would come up. Sometimes I didn\u2019t even need to do that, I\u2019d just write \u2018Jesy\u2019 and then I\u2019d see all the horrible things. Everyone told me to ignore it \u2013 but it was like an addiction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eating disorders and depression often manifest in this way, becoming an addiction – fuelling themselves by forcing you to look for, or create, negative comments about yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It all came to a head in 2013, when cruel comments about Little Mix’s returning performance on The X Factor<\/em> led Jesy to make an attempt on her life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was sat in bed crying, thinking, ‘This is never going to go, I’m going to feel sad for the rest of my life, so what is the point in being here?’,” she says in the BBC documentary. “I remember going to the kitchen and I just took as many tablets as I could. Then my ex, who was with me at the time, woke up and was like, ‘why are you crying?’ I kept saying, ‘I just want to die’.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesy was taken to hospital, and thankfully pulled through without any complications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While her story is heartbreaking and painful, it is also testament to recovery from depression and eating disorders. It was a long but successful road to recovery for Jesy, and of course she still has some darker days – but is now equipped with the tools to deal with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2018I would wake up every day and just feel so miserable and sad.\u2019 Chatting to @EmAtack<\/a>, @LittleMix<\/a>'s Jesy Nelson shares her experience of online trolling, ahead of her upcoming documentary. pic.twitter.com\/6Ao2LGTdE9<\/a><\/p>— Lorraine (@lorraine) September 9, 2019<\/a><\/blockquote>