Jesy Nelson has revealed the heartbreaking reason behind her split from fiancé Zion Foster, just four months after their engagement.
The former Little Mix star, 34, ended her four-year relationship with Zion, 26, just weeks after the couple announced their twin daughters, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe, had been diagnosed with SMA Type 1, a rare genetic condition that causes muscle wastage.
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, Jesy has now revealed the ‘traumatic’ series of events ultimately led to the collapse of her romance with Zion, explaining the dynamic between them shifted and their priority is now co-parenting their daughters.
She said: ‘We have been through such a traumatic experience and for us, our girls are our main priority and our main focus.
‘We want to give them the most positive, happy and uplifting time and energy and because we have both been through such a traumatic experience, the energy wasn’t right between us, which is understandable.
‘We are still friends and we are still united in co-parenting our daughters, they are our main focus, that’s all we can do, be the best possible parents we can right now.’
Jesy Nelson has revealed the heartbreaking reason behind her split from fiancé Zion Foster, just four months after their engagement
The former Little Mix star ended her four-year relationship with Zion weeks after the couple announced their twin daughters had been diagnosed with SMA Type 1
In an exclusive interview, Jesy has now revealed the ‘traumatic’ series of events ultimately led to the collapse of her romance with Zion, explaining the dynamic between them shifted
Jesy had hoped to finally embrace motherhood after a complicated pregnancy, during which she learned her daughters were monochorionic diamniotic (MCDA) identical twins, and had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS), a rare condition where both babies share a placenta.
She was relieved when they were born healthy, but her joy was shattered six months later when the SMA diagnosis arrived.
Now campaigning for all newborns to be tested for spinal muscular atrophy at birth, Jesy insists that early diagnosis is crucial, as a one-time infusion can significantly improve muscle development.
She admitted she still feels ‘sad’ and ‘angry’ that her daughters weren’t identified within the vital early window. She said doctors had told her not to compare her twins’ growth with other babies due to their premature birth – advice that later compounded her distress.
The star added: ‘I am taking each day as it comes because I feel like right now, especially with the girls’ diagnosis, it’s all I can really do. If I try to look too far into the future, I will drive myself crazy.
‘The girls are doing really well and they’re happy, that’s all I can really ask for.’
Jesy’s breakup feels even more poignant ahead of the launch of her Prime Video series, Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, which documents every twist and turn of the former X Factor star’s pregnancy.
Viewers will see the close bond Jesy once shared with Zion, whom she described just months before their split as her ‘best friend’ and the person who ‘makes me feel like everything is going to be okay’.
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Jesy’s breakup feels even more poignant ahead of the launch of her Prime Video series, Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, which documents every twist and turn of the star’s pregnancy
After years of feeling lost, enduring intense trolling during her time in Little Mix, and navigating several break-ups, Jesy said that becoming a mother has finally given her a sense of ‘purpose’
Viewers will see the tragic reality of Jesy’s pregnancy unfold in her new Prime Video series, as she learns about her daughters’ conditions during a series of scans
Although she initially had reservations when she unexpectedly fell pregnant, questioning whether Zion, then 25, was ready to become a first-time father to twins, Jesy later admitted she always believed his calm nature would make him the best dad imaginable.
She finally agreed to film a documentary looking back at her life – from auditioning on The X Factor at just 20, to rising to global fame as part of one of the world’s biggest girlbands, and becoming a mother for the first time to twin babies.
Jesy had initially hoped to create an uplifting film she could one day show her daughters, but she revealed that the motivation behind documenting the realities of her pregnancy and labour shifted dramatically as filming progressed.
‘No one could ever prepare me for what was about to come,’ she explained.
‘I just think it’s crazy how the universe works that the one time I said I’m ready to let the cameras in, that everything since has played out.
‘But at the same time, as horrendous and traumatic as it was, I am so incredibly grateful that the cameras were there. During episodes three, four, five and six, that’s when you really start to see the access.
‘You see my birth; you see everything. But I’m just so proud of it. I am so grateful that my girls are going to see how incredible and strong they are, and I just love that it will hopefully raise as much awareness as possible about the things I have been through.’
On January 4, Jesy shared devastating news with her fanbase, revealing the early warning signs that ultimately led to her babies being diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) Type 1. Among the first indications were difficulties with feeding and limited movement in their legs.
In an emotional video shared on TikTok, Jesy explained the long and exhausting journey that preceded the diagnosis.
Cameras have followed the former singer for nearly a year as she begins her journey into motherhood
In the debut episode of her Prime Video show, Jesy said: ‘This is a whole new chapter of my life. I just feel like now I’m ready to tell my story’
She said: ‘After the most gruelling three/four months and endless appointments, the girls have now been diagnosed with a severe muscular disease called SMA Type 1.
‘For those of you who don’t know what SMA Type 1 is, it is the most severe muscular disease that a baby can get.’
Fighting back tears, she went on to describe the devastating reality of the condition if left untreated, adding: ‘If it’s not treated in time, your baby’s life expectancy, will not make it past the age of two.’
The diagnosis came as a huge shock to the new mother, who had believed the worst was behind her after overcoming serious complications during her pregnancy.
Having finally brought her premature babies home, Jesy thought she was ‘out of the trenches’, only to discover that her journey was far from over.
Jesy told the Daily Mail: ‘There was a point when I was told that the girls’ survival rate was next to nothing. I hate even saying it now because it makes me feel really sad.
‘I used to think what the f*** am I going to do if they’re not here and I have cameras following me – have I even really thought about this?’
Jesy described the moment the diagnosis was confirmed as world-shattering.
‘When the girls got their diagnosis, I felt like my whole world just fell apart,’ she said.
‘I felt like when they were born, my birth, me being on the antenatal ward, caring for them as premature babies, it was all so intense.
Jesy rose to fame in Little Mix alongside Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, before quitting the group in December 2020 after nine years (pictured July 2018)
Jesy said she and her Little Mix bandmates often talked about becoming mothers when they were younger, but she never imagined it would be in her own future
‘But I really felt like when I took them home that I was out of the trenches, I thought, “Thank God we’re out of it,” and “I can finally enjoy motherhood.” But then this happened, and I was like, “What is my life?”
‘So many things have happened to me. I remember turning to my mum and saying, “Someone up there is playing a game with me.”
‘I am just so grateful that they’re still here because it could have been a very, very different outcome. I just have to be grateful, and they’re just the most beautiful, strongest girls to raise.’
Jesy, who rose to fame in Little Mix alongside Perrie Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Jade Thirlwall, before quitting the group in December 2020 after nine years, revealed that she never wanted children when she was younger.
She explained that she often discussed the subject with her former bandmates and was adamant that motherhood was not in her future – a mindset that completely changed when she fell pregnant.
After periods of feeling lost in her life, having endured intense trolling during her time in Little Mix and navigating several high-profile break-ups, Jesy said becoming a mother has finally given her the ‘purpose’ she had always been searching for.
‘Even when I was in the band, the girls always used to say to me, “Are you sure you don’t want children?” And I was like, “Nope, absolutely not,” I was adamant that I didn’t want kids and obviously my pregnancy wasn’t planned,’ she explained.
‘But now, it’s mad because I can’t imagine my life without them, and they have genuinely made me the person that I have always wanted to be.
‘They brought me so much purpose and for such a long time in my life I had been looking for that purpose, and I had felt lost, but they came along, and they gave me all the purpose.
‘My life is for them now. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Sometimes I look at them and I think, “Wow, look what I have created.”
‘It’s mad to think they were in my tummy and had a next to nothing survival rate, then they got TTTS, they survived that, and the whole time they had SMA and I didn’t even know, and they’re still going through it now and smiling.
‘I do have days when I think, “Oh my God, this is so hard,” but they’re my reason, they’re my everything.’
As part of her campaigning efforts, Jesy met with Health Secretary Wes Streeting, who said the former pop star was ‘right to challenge and criticise how long it takes to get a diagnosis’.
Jesy rose to fame with Little Mix on The X Factor, which they won in 2011, before achieving global success as a band (pictured October 2011)
She hopes that SMA will be added to the baby heel prick test – a routine screening performed around five days after birth to detect rare but serious health conditions in newborns.
Although Jesy’s huge fanbase of over 10million has helped amplify her voice, she still feels angry for the families and children before her twins who were ignored and forced to suffer in silence.
She said: ‘It makes me sad. Just very sad. It makes me angry – I feel so many different emotions. I feel sadder and angrier, if anything.
‘So many people have been suffering for years and trying to raise awareness, but they haven’t been taken seriously.
‘The minute I come along, they want to take it seriously, and it’s so unfair. I hate that that’s how it’s played out.
‘I also know that I have to take some positivity from the fact that it’s being taken seriously now. It’s s*** that it happened this way, but I have to be grateful for my platform and that I can hopefully make a change. It makes me feel more positive.
‘When you know how life-changing the treatment is, and that it’s been available since 2018, knowing that I wouldn’t need to go through this, and that so many families wouldn’t have to either, it’s sad.’
Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix is available on Prime Video on February 13
