Jesy Nelson has revealed how she was left ‘mortified and embarrased’ after Gary Barlow ‘tore her to pieces’ during her X Factor audition.
The former Little Mix singer, 34, won the ITV singing competition alongside Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards in 2011, becoming the first ever band to win the British version of the show.
However, speaking in the debut episode of her new Amazon Prime Video show, Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, the singer reflected on the moment Gary, 55, branded her ‘generic’ and ‘lacking individuality’ in her audition.
At just 20 years of age, Jesy tried out for the ITV talent show with her rendition of Jazmine Sullivan’s Bust Your Windows.
But, despite being desperate to impress the Take That frontman in the absence of Simon Cowell on the judging panel, her hopes were dashed when Gary decided not to put her through to the next round.
Recalling the experience, Jesy said: ‘From that minute that he tore me to s*** I just wanted to walk off stage, I didn’t care what anyone else had to say.
‘I was just mortified and all I kept thinking was, I can’t believe all my friends are going to see this, I’m so embarrassed.’
Despite receiving praise from fellow judges Louis Walsh, Tulisa and Kelly Rowland, the singer explained how she was unable to stop crying as she left the stage with cameras capturing her emotional reaction.
She added: ‘The rest of the judges all said good comments, but the one bad comment, which just sums me up, is the one that got in my head.
‘I remember coming off stage, and I was really crying, and they were literally shoving the camera in my face, saying “Jesy, can you just say to the camera, Gary, I’m going to prove you wrong.”‘
In May last year, Jesy welcomed her twin daughters Ocean Jade and Story Monroe Nelson-Foster with Zion Foster, who she recently announced her shock split from.
Their separation came after Jesy detailed the diagnosis of her twins with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 1.
Recently, Jesy declared that she is ‘so angry’ after healthcare professionals missed symptoms that eventually saw her babies diagnosed with the life-altering disease.
In a tearful video posted on social media, she said that the past three months had been ‘the most heartbreaking time of my life’.
But in a recent interview on Sky News, the former girl band star explained how the condition was only picked up by her mum rather than healthcare professionals.
This came after she revealed the ‘understandable reason’ behind her split from Zion.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Jesy explained that her relationship struggled to cope after the dynamic shifted, but the pair are now focused on co-parenting their daughters.
‘We have been through such a traumatic experience and for us, our girls are our main priority and our main focus,’ she said.
Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix is available on Prime Video on 13th February
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