Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson Says She Tried To Take Her Own Life Following Abuse From Online Trolls

Little Mix{ =nofollow}’s Jesy Nelson has said that she tried to take her own life following vile abuse from online trolls. Ahead of her BBC documentary on trolling and body image, the singer – who shot to fame with the X Factor-winning group in 2011 – heartbreakingly admitted the toll online bullies have had on her mental health.

‘All I cared about was what people were saying about me,’ Jesy told The Guardian{ =nofollow}. ‘I felt that I physically couldn’t tolerate the pain any more.'

She added, ‘A lot of people think "stop moaning'", but until you’ve experienced it, it’s hard to understand – and it doesn’t just happen to people in the limelight. There’s so many people struggling with social media and online trolling. People need to know about the effects it has.’

Jesy also told the newspaper how she used to starve herself before shoots, later binging on food, and how she would search the internet for nasty comments.

‘I had a routine of waking up, going on Twitter, searching for the worst things I could about myself,’ she said. ‘I'd type in the search bar, “Jesy fat”, or “Jesy ugly”, and see what would come up. Sometimes I didn't even need to do that, I'd just write 'Jesy' and then I'd see all the horrible things.

‘Everyone told me to ignore it – but it was like an addiction.’

Jesy only decided to quit Twitter when Little Mix went on tour with Demi Lovato{ =nofollow}.

‘It was a long, hard process, because I didn't want to help myself,’ she said. ‘But it wasn't until I deleted Twitter that everything changed for me and I slowly started to feel normal again.’

In the documentary, her bandmates also speak out about what it was like to watch their friend suffer due to the online abuse.

According to The Sun{ =nofollow}, Jade Thirlwall says, ‘We just had to watch this amazing, funny girl become a bit like a broken doll. It was horrible. I remember feeling really angry. I wanted to just find every single person that had ever said anything horrible to her, look them in the eye and say, “Look what you’ve done to this girl’”. Every single person that said something should have been held accountable for making her feel like that.’

Speaking about the lasting impact the trolls have had on Jesy, Leigh-Anne adds, ‘People don’t realise what bullying and trolling can do to someone. The trolls took away her love for it and her passion. But how does she get that back? How does she go back to feeling confident and feeling amazing from all that s**t that happened to her?'

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK.

You can watch Jesy Nelson: ‘Odd One Out’ on BBC iPlayer and on BBC One from 12 September.