Perrie Edwards emotionally opens up on friendship break-up with Jesy Nelson - 'It's heartbreaking'
Perrie Edwards, 31, has broken her silence on how she coped with losing Jesy Nelson, 33, as a friend in a heartfelt interview with Fearne Cotton. Perrie first met Jesy back in 2011 on The X Factor, and they formed the group Little Mix alongside Jade Thirwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock before going on to win the ITV series.
Little Mix dominated the UK charts for years, but Jesy announced her decision to leave the group to pursue a solo career in 2020 which shocked their loyal fans. During an hour-long interview on Fearne Cotton's Happy Place podcast, which was released this morning (Monday, October 28), Perrie addressed how much she "struggled" with her friendship break-up with Jesy.
Fearne began: "You talked recently about how you haven't talked to Jesy in a very long time. I think those situations are so tricky, and I think we have all been through them. I certainly have."
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When asked how she felt about drifting from Jesy, Perrie replied, "I wrote a song about it, and it's about a friendship that I had, which I no longer have. I mentioned it in an interview, and so many people reached out to me."
"It's not really spoken about," she added. "When you hear a heartbreak song, it's about a relationship or a significant other, and it's like, 'Unbreak my heart'. But when it's a friend, you don't hear about it much in music, so I was like, 'I am going to write something about it because it's just as heartbreaking, if not worse.'"
She added: "When you have been in that person's life for years, and they have had your back, and you have been through highs, lows, everything and all of these experiences, it's a wild ride, but you are in it together, and then poof, they're gone... That is hard to deal with. I struggled a lot with that.
"It was really sad, but at the same time, these things happen, and it makes you think, 'Do we try to rectify the situation? Do I reach out? I feel like I should just stay away.' It's a really horrible dynamic to be in."
Perrie added: "You can't force somebody to be friends with you. If they don't want to be friends, they don't want to be friends. But, yes, it's really hard."
She later lamented that "a lot of people drift" throughout their lives, adding that "it's strange."
Jesy told People after leaving Little Mix: "For me, my mental health issues were an ongoing thing while I was in Little Mix. I was struggling with my body issues, I was constantly being trolled – and I really, really struggled with it."
She added: "I needed support and help to overcome that, and there wasn't the time while I was in the band," she said. "I don't have any regrets because I had to do what was right for me, and I will always cherish the memories I had at Little Mix."
Jesy told Glamour: "It is weird because for so many years we were as close as sisters, together every hour of the day for weeks, sharing beds, laughing, crying just 24/7 the four of us together and then…Nothing."
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