Jesy Nelson was "miserable" in Little Mix.

Jesy Nelson

Jesy Nelson

The 30-year-old singer quit the chart-topping girl group in December due to the toll being in the band had taken on her mental health, and the star has admitted she was "depressed" most of the time during her tenure with the 'Black Magic' hitmakers.

Jesy worked at a bar before shooting to fame on 'The X Factor' with her ex-bandmates Perrie Edwards, 29, Jade Thirlwall, 28, and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, also 29, in 2011, and her mother didn't "recognise" her own daughter when she was in Little Mix.

Speaking on 'Reign with Josh Smith', an exclusive unfiltered conversation with Jesy Nelson, streaming exclusively on LIVENow, the music star said: “Especially my mum, she was like, ‘I think you really need to look after yourself now because this isn't healthy.’ And what's s*** for my mum is my mum saw me as a barmaid who was very confident, who was always happy, to then go to someone who had no confidence, was down all the time, depressed.

And that was really hard as a mum for her to watch … My mum does not care about money, fame, all of that s***, she just wants me to be happy.

"So for her to see her daughter do something that she's always wanted to do, but see her be so

miserable, my mum was like, ‘Why are you doing this? You live once. This isn't you. This isn't the Jesy that I know. You've become someone I don't even recognise anymore.’”

Jesy has since gone solo, signed a major record deal, and is set to release her debut single, 'Boyz', and fans can expect to hear her truth in her lyrics.

She said: “It's the first time I've ever got to really explain how I truly feel in my songs, which is really refreshing and like a weight off my shoulders … I'm taking control of everything now, down to my music videos, down to my styling, down to the... Every single thing. Before it was a collective, now it's just me and that's scary, but I love that because if it does go to s***, then

I'm okay with that because this is my truth and this is what I wanted to do.”

Despite departing the group, Jesy says the trio "deserve" all of their success, including their BRIT Award win for Best Group this year and number one with 'Sweet Melody'.

And she insisted she did make some "incredible memories" with the girls that she can look back on fondly.

She added: “I had honestly the most incredible memories with Little Mix. We laughed so much, they are, they're like my sisters. Obviously them getting the number one with 'Sweet Melody' and the BRIT Award is everything they deserve. I was so happy for them when they won that BRIT Award because they f****** deserve it. They really, really do. They are the best girl band in the world and so yeah, it felt really nice. It was a really nice way to end that journey.”

Watch the full episode of 'Reign With Josh Smith' on LiveNow.com via reignjesynelson.livenow.com.

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