Perrie Edwards has burst into tears while recalling the fallout from her split with Zayn Malik in Girlbands Forever.
The former Little Mix star, 32, began crying and asked the cameras to stop rolling during the latest episode of the show.
Perrie explains how the public scrutiny and abuse from online trolls became almost too much to bear.
The pop star had been engaged to One Direction star Zayn for two years when their romance hit the skids. And although its claimed Zayn dumped her by text, Perrie bore the brunt thanks to bitter 1D fans.
Girlbands Forever: Perrie Edwards on her split with Zayn Malik
Perrie recalls her break-up with Zayn in the third episode of Girlbands Forever, which has been airing on BBC Two. She had got engaged to him in 2013 but their split quickly became public news in 2015.
Perrie says in the documentary: “You’re hurting enough as it is, never mind everyone having an opinion on it. Everyone wants to know your business and feels like they have ownership of it. You can’t escape it.”
The show goes on to explain how Little Mix soon released Shout Out To My Ex. The single was Perrie’s way of seeking revenge on Zayn. It is still to this date the band’s best selling single.
“You may as well sing about it,” Perrie says.
Perrie Edwards’ mental health battle
But the fallout from Perrie’s break-up with Zayn had a huge effect on her. By 2017, Little Mix were in the midst of a world tour and were due to fly to Las Vegas. Perrie, however, hit rock bottom.
She remembers: “It is hard to deal with things like that publicly. It just hurt and I went through a lot behind the scenes. It does have a huge impact on your mental health.”
Perrie goes on to explain how she ended up in hospital on a drip once in Vegas. She is left in tears as she remembers the pressures she felt “letting down” bandmates, Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jesy Nelson (the latter of whom was still in the group).
“I didn’t want to go,” Perrie says. “I was so exhausted. I tried getting out of the trip and when I got there, I started experiencing panic attacks. I ended up in the hospital and on a drip.
“I didn’t want to let the girls down. They had to do it without me and I hated it.” Starting to cry, she continues: “When you’re in a group dynamic, even though you’re going through stuff individually, you can’t then be selfish.
“I tried to put on a brave face a lot of the time. I didn’t want to let the team down.”
Perrie is then comforted by a Girlbands Forever crew member.
Girlbands Forever: Tulisa Contostavlos
Episode 3 of Girlbands Forever features Tulisa Contostavlos. The former N-Dubz star was a judge on The X Factor in 2011 when Little Mix was formed. She was also the girlband’s mentor on the show.
Tulisa says: “I wanted to find the next great band because that is what I knew and what I felt I’d be good at. They were really adorable. They had this really sweet innocence about them.
“I knew the struggle it would take to crack a girlband. But I was ready for the challenge.”
Tulisa says she pushed back on show management who wanted to “sass them up” in heels. “They needed to be really relatable,” she explains.
Does Perry still speak to Tulisa?
Little Mix announced their split in 2020. It came two years after Jesy had quit the band. But does Perrie still speak to Tulisa? The good news is yes, she does!
Last month, Tulisa shared a supportive Instagram post when Perrie released her debut, self-titled album. She wrote: “The lil’ muffin tuned queen. So proud.” Tulisa used to fondly refer to Little Mix as her ‘muffins’ during The X Factor.
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