Jesy Nelson

Jessica Louise Nelson[1] was born on 14 June 1991.[2] She was raised in Romford, East London to parents John Nelson, a businessman, and Janice White, a Police Community Service Officer. Her parents separated when she was five. She is the second youngest of four children with an older sister Jade, an older brother Jonathan and a younger brother Joseph.[3][4]

Nelson attended Jo Richardson Community School and Abbs Cross Academy and Arts College in Hornchurch, London.[5] She also attended Sylvia Young and Yvonne Rhodes Theatre Schools. One of her classmates at the school was Rita Ora.[6] Prior to auditioning for The X Factor, Nelson worked as a barmaid in Dagenham.[7] In 2020, Nelson said that as a child, she had small roles as an extra in About a Boy (2002) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005).[8]

Her first audition was "Bust Your Windows" by Jazmine Sullivan.[9] Since joining Little Mix, she has faced cyber-bullying and struggled to cope during her time on The X Factor.[4] Nelson and Perrie Edwards were put in a group called "Faux Pas" while Jade Thirlwall and Leigh-Anne Pinnock were to be put in a group named "Orion". Both groups, however, failed to progress. Later, a decision was made to bring back the four to form the four-piece group Rhythmix, and they progressed to judges' houses.[10] They eventually reached the live shows and were mentored by Tulisa Contostavlos.[11] On 28 October 2011, it was announced that the group's new name would be Little Mix.[12] On 11 December 2011, Little Mix were announced as the winners, the first group to win the programme.[13] Nelson released six albums with the group; DNA (2012), Salute (2013), Get Weird (2015), Glory Days (2016), LM5 (2018) and Confetti (2020).[14] In December 2020, she announced her departure from the group due to prolonged issues with her mental health. She said: "I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard."[15]

Nelson has said that being bullied at school may have contributed to her suffering from stress-induced alopecia as a teenager.[16][17] In her BBC documentary Odd One Out, Nelson was vocal about her struggle with body image. She said she would starve herself before TV performances or video shoots, then later binge eat. She said that abuse from online trolls on Twitter drove her to attempt suicide in 2013, stating: "I felt that I physically couldn't tolerate the pain any more."[18]

Nelson had a 10-month relationship with Diversity member Jordan Banjo which ended in 2013.[19] In 2014, Nelson began dating Rixton lead singer, Jake Roche. The couple became engaged on 19 July 2015,[20] but broke up in November 2016.[21] She had a brief relationship with Chris Clark in 2017,[22] followed by a 16-month relationship with musician Harry James that ended in November 2018.[23] In January 2019, Nelson began dating Love Island contestant Chris Hughes.[24] On the one-year anniversary of their relationship in January 2020, she said: "I can honestly say I've never been more in love and happy in all my life."[25] In April 2020, Nelson and Hughes broke up due to personal reasons.[26] Four months later, she announced that she was in a relationship with actor Sean Sagar.[27]

Nelson has 15 tattoos, including a quote on her upper right arm: "Music is the strongest form of magic".[28] Her estimated wealth in 2020 was £5.8 million.[29]

In November 2020, Little Mix's publicist stated that Nelson would take an extended break from the pop group for "private medical reasons".[30] On 14 December 2020, Nelson announced her departure from Little Mix due to struggles with her mental health.[15]

• Media related to Jesy Nelson at Wikimedia Commons