Jesy Nelson has confirmed that she has separated from her fiancé Zion Foster, with whom she shares twin daughters Ocean Jade and Story Monroe, after four years.
The former Little Mix star and solo artist shared the news after revealing that their daughters had been diagnosed with SMA Type 1, a rare genetic condition that causes muscle wastage.
Nelson, 34, said that it was the “traumatic” series of events surrounding her difficult pregnancy and her children’s health that led to the collapse of her relationship.
“We have been through such a traumatic experience and for us, our girls are our main priority and our main focus,” she told the Daily Mail.
“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.”
Nelson said she and Foster are still friends and united in co-parenting their daughters: “That’s all we can do, be the best possible parents we can right now.”
The pop singer is the subject of a new Prime Video documentary series, Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, which is scheduled for release next week.
In it, she is seen navigating her complicated pregnancy during which she learnt 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.
Nelson was delighted when her babies were born healthy, only to be devastated six months later when they received their SMA diagnosis.
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Both she and Foster have criticised what he called a “huge flaw” in the UK healthcare system and are campaigning for SMA1 screenings to take place at birth, including starting a petition to get the condition added to the newborn blood spot screening test, also known as the heel prick test.
According to the NHS website, the test is offered to every baby at five days old, and involves taking a blood sample to find out if it has one of nine rare but serious health conditions.
The UK National Screening Committee does not recommend screening but has commissioned work to reassess this due to developments in treatment.
Nelson has said that the twins have now had treatment – a one-off infusion that puts the missing gene back into their body and stops any of the muscles that are still working from dying.
The treatment will not be able to help regain any muscles that have already died.
Nelson shot to fame as a member of Little Mix, along with Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall and Perrie Edwards, after winning The X Factor in 2011.
She quit the group in 2020 citing the pressures of being in the group and went on to pursue a solo career, releasing two singles including “Boyz”, featuring US rapper Nicki Minaj, in 2021, and “Bad Thing” in 2023.
In another interview with The Sun this week, Nelson said that motherhood had shifted how she looks at her former bandmates.
“I’ve never spoken horrendously about Little Mix,” she said. “Even though I’ve had crappy times in terms of my mental health and what being in the band did to me, our sisterhood, my relationship that I had with them and the years I did spend with them were amazing.
“That’s the reason why Little Mix were so successful because we genuinely were like sisters at one point, we were genuinely best friends.”
Nelson’s time in Little Mix and the toll that horrific online bullying had on her mental health was the subject of a BBC documentary titled Jesy Nelson: Odd One Out.
