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

Jesy Nelson: The 29-year-old singer quit British girl band Little Mix after detailing her years-long struggle in the spotlight. Highlighting body image and online bullying as playing a major part in her decision to quit, she said: 'When you've got your own insecurities and then when people go and tell you and write them on websites for everyone to see, it just makes you feel really rubbish.' Getty Images

Little Mix: The three remaining members, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Leigh-Anne Pinnock, have vowed to continue as a trio, telling fans: 'We know that Jesy leaving the group is going to be really upsetting news for our fans. We love you guys so much and are so grateful for your loyalty and continued support of all of us. We're looking forward to seeing so many of you on tour.' WireImage

Geri Halliwell: Ginger Spice quit the Spice Girls in 1998, citing exhaustion and the need for a break, However, she later revealed in the documentary ‘Giving You Everything’: 'I felt I didn't belong any more. They didn't need me any more, really, and I definitely felt very redundant.' She went on to carve out a solo career, but never replicated the success she had with the band. She rejoined in 2007. Getty Images

The Spice Girls: With worldwide record sales topping 90 million, The Spice Girls remain the biggest-selling girl group of all time. Continuing as a four-piece after Halliwell’s departure, they went on to score another hit with ‘Goodbye’ in 1998, although their post-Geri album, ‘Forever’, sold only a fraction of their previous albums. They announced a hiatus in 2001, reforming as a five-piece for a mega-grossing world tour in 2007. Virgin

Zayn Malik: Stress and the pressure of fame were blamed for Malik’s departure from British boy band One Direction back in 2015, when he was 22. Leaving halfway through the Asian leg of a world tour, a week later, the band announced his departure and Malik said he wanted to be a 'normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight'. His 2016 solo album, ‘Mind of Mine’, debuted at number one in the UK and US, making him the first British male solo artist to debut at number one with his first album. However, his 2018 second album, ‘Icarus Falls’, failed to replicate its success. AFP

One Direction: The band, consisting of Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik, Niall Horan and Liam Payne, broke records for album sales, earnings and tours since they were created on UK TV talent show ‘The X Factor’ in 2010. After Malik left, they continued as a foursome, heading off on the ‘On The Road Again’ tour, and releasing an album, ‘Made in the AM’, which reached number one in numerous countries. They announced they would be going on hiatus in 2016, with the remaining four members heading off to pursue other projects, with Styles emerging as the most successful. Getty Images

Robbie Williams: The British singer was just 16 when he joined Take That. After five years in the band, he left to embark on a solo career. Having spoken out about his long-term battles with addiction, and his desire to be accepted by the guitar bands who dominated the Britpop era of the '90s, Williams achieved far greater commercial success as a solo artist, with 11 out of 12 of his albums hitting the number one spot in his native UK. AFP

Take That: Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, Jason Orange and Howard Donald continued as a four-piece following Williams’s departure in June 1995. But the group only managed to continue for another few months before announcing they were splitting in February 1996. Their final UK number one was a cover of the Bee Gees’ ‘How Deep is your Love’, until they reunited in 2006 with the album, ‘Beautiful World’. Williams would temporarily rejoin in 2010 for the album 'Progress', which became the fastest-selling album of the century, with 235,000 copies sold in the first day. Getty Images

Richie Sambora: After three decades in rock group Bon Jovi, the lead guitarist and singer left in April 2013 citing 'personal reasons', in a move that led to a rift with long-time friend and bandmate, Jon Bon Jovi. 'I just needed to be a dad and a normal human being,' he said of his daughter, Ava, who he shares with American actress Heather Locklear. 'When you are in a huge organisation like Bon Jovi, and on the road for 16 months … As a musician there is no room for artistic growth if you are on the road all the time.' Redferns

Bon Jovi: Cancelling their scheduled 2020 tour due to the coronavirus, Bon Jovi also pushed back the release of their 15th studio album. Having continued touring and making music in the wake of Sambora’s departure, frontman Jon Bon Jovi mused: 'There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t wish that Richie had his life together and was still in the band. And yet, in a weird way, it's because of his inability to get it together anymore that we went on and wrote [2016 album] 'This House Is Not For Sale'. It was a very strong record. I don't know where we would have gone, but through all that pain and heartbreak came this.' WireImage

Bill Wyman: The Rolling Stones bassist quit the legendary British blues and rock band in 1993 after 31 years. In 1997 he formed his own band, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, touring and recording music with the group. In a documentary about his life, last year’s ‘The Quiet One’, he revealed he left the group because he wanted 'to start life over — a normal life'. Getty Images

The Rolling Stones: Having already weathered the loss of Brian Jones, who quit the band in 1969 and drowned in his swimming pool a month later, The Stones rolled with the punches over Wyman’s departure, too, going on to win more Grammys, release more albums and head off on more tours. 'Bill, oh, we love him dearly, and he was a hell of a bass player. We didn’t tell him to leave,' Keith Richards later told 'Esquire'. Redferns

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.