Jesy Nelson says she was forced to strip for bikini shoots in Little Mix when she was depressed

JESY Nelson has claimed she was forced to do bikini shoots during her time in Little Mix, even when she was feeling  depressed.

The 30-year-old, who left the group in December after nine years, has opened up about her mental health struggles while in the band as she explained her decision to go solo.

Speaking to Fearne Cotton for her podcast Happy Place, she said: “It is f**king hard being in a girl band. It is like a machine. You don’t have any time to just be. Or do what you actually want to do.”

Describing her life since leaving, she said: “If I wake up and my manager goes to me: ‘do you want to do this?’

“I have the choice to go no I don’t or yes I do.

“I would have days when I was thinking: ‘how am I going to get out of bed today. I feel so depressed I don’t know how I am going to get out of bed today?’

“I would have to do a photoshoot in a bikini.”

She added: “I felt like I had no control over my life.

 “I didn’t come into this industry for people to literally tear me down for what I look like.”

The band were formed on the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011 and were the first group to win the competition.

Little Mix, originally consisting of Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, Perrie Edwards and Jesy, went on to become one of the most successful outputs from the singing competition and one of the biggest girl groups of the last 10 years, selling more than 50 million records worldwide.