Little Mix share first New Year message as a trio after Jesy Nelson's exit

The Little Mix girls have shared their first 2021 snap without their bandmate Jesy Nelson as they celebrated the new year.

It’s the first photo the trio have uploaded in the new year since Jesy quit the band to “focus on her mental health”.

Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards shared the cheerful New Year message after their fourth bandmate made the decision to leave.

The band posted a video of the trio cheering as a confetti cannon showered them in decorations on their Instagram.

The girls looked in high spirits as they welcomed 2021 as a three piece.

The clip was captioned: “Happy New Year! We can’t wait to see you all again very soon.

“(ps Sweet Melody is the perfect song for the top of your New Year playlists).” [sic]

Jesy was nowhere to be seen as the video was likely taken just after she split from the group.

After the singer quit the band, it came to light that she’d claimed she was once injected with painkillers 50 times so she could go on stage with Little Mix.

The star said she felt like a “robot” and was expected never to take time off to rest or recover from illness.

Jesy made the allegations in two autobiographies of the band.

The comments were not reported when the books came out in 2012 and 2016 but have come to attention after Jesy quit the band on health grounds.

She said the jabs happened before a massive TV gig on music guru Simon Cowell ‘s show America’s Got Talent in 2015.

She wrote: “On the day, my shoulder went and I couldn’t move. In the end I had something like 50 injections and my back was smothered in bruises.

“Before the show, when I was getting my hair and make-up done, people were feeding me coffee to wake me up.

“I was so out of it I can’t remember anything much about the performance, just that on stage I couldn’t get my balance. It was awful, the worst thing I’ve had to do.

“In a normal job you can take a day off and no one has a go at you, whereas in this job if you miss a performance, everyone’s writing articles, commenting on social media and throwing abuse.”

The pop star announced she was leaving the band last month, with a statement which read: “I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard.

“I need to spend some time with the people I love, doing things that make me happy.

“I’m ready to embark on a new chapter in my life – I’m not sure what it’s going to look like right now, but I hope you’ll still be there to support me.

“Most of all I want to say thank you to Jade, Perrie and Leigh-Anne for creating some of the most amazing memories I’ll never forget.”

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