I'm not with the band: Jesy Nelson and the complicated legacy of leaving a group

The singer joins the likes of Robbie Williams, Geri Halliwell and Richie Sambora in exiting a group at the height of its success

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After nine years in super-successful British girl band Little Mix, Jesy Nelson has announced she is leaving.

The remaining three members of the Brit and MTV Europe Award-winning band, who were formed on UK talent show The X Factor back in 2011, took to social media to state they would carry on as a trio after Nelson, 29, made her statement.

“Making friends and fans all over the world, I can't thank you all enough from the bottom of my heart for making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world. You have always been there to support and encourage me and I will never ever forget it,” Nelson wrote on Instagram, revealing that being in the band had "really taken a toll" on her mental health.

"I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard," she added.

“There comes a time in life when we need to reinvest in taking care of ourselves rather than focusing on making other people happy, and I feel like now is the time to begin that process. I need to spend some time with the people I love, doing things that make me happy.”

The news sent shock waves through the group's huge and dedicated fandom, but the remaining three members, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, assured fans they will continue as a three-piece.

“This is an incredibly sad time for all of us, but we are fully supportive of Jesy,” they said in a statement. “We love her very much and agree that it is so important that she does what is right for her mental health and well-being. We are still very much enjoying our Little Mix journey and the three of us are not ready for it to be over.”

Candid about her struggles

Nelson has been open about her struggles with fame and the online bullying, body image pressure and depression that has come with her success. The singer from Romford, Essex, won at the National Television Awards for her BBC documentary, Odd One Out, last year, in which she talked in depth about how bullying over her appearance led her to attempt suicide in 2013.

“I just remember thinking: ‘I just need this to go away, I'm going to end this’,” she said of the time.

"I had a routine of waking up, going on Twitter, searching for the worst things I could about myself," she told The Guardian. "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."

In the documentary, Nelson’s mother, Janice, revealed: “I know it might seem strange to say, but if I could have back, my Jess, as I had her before, I would change it like that. I miss her. I just feel like I’ve lost Jess to social media and she's addicted to what people are saying.”

Scroll through the gallery above for more stars who left successful groups, and what happened to them after they quit.