Perrie Edwards' devastating breakup with Zayn Malik that saw her end up in hospital
Former Little Mix star Perrie Edwards recalls how her mental health hit rock bottom while going through a painful break up with her One Direction star ex, Zayn Malik
Perrie Edwards has revealed the devastating impact of her public break up with One Direction star Zayn Malik, and how it affected her mental health. She spoke about the "dark" time as part of Louis Theroux's Girlbands Forever documentary, which explores the music industry for British singers over the last 25 years.
Many former girlband members looked back at a time where record companies had no regard for 'duty of care', in an era when the stars' mental health was not taken into account. Members of bands like Sugababes, Little Mix, Eternal, All Saints and Atomic Kitten looked back at how they were treated by their managers in the 90s and early 00s.
Perrie, 32, won X Factor in 2011 alongside the other Little Mix girls - but her swift rise to fame left her in a dark place, particularly as it coincided with the growth of social media. She admitted: "I did start believing I'm not good at this, I'm ugly. People just say well, it's what you signed up for.
"I wanted to be singing for people not trolled. I didn't want that, I didn't sign up for that s***." When Perrie started seeing 1D star Zayn Malik, she was relentlessly trolled by his fans. She explained: "Social media was dark, it used to really hurt."
The pair got engaged, but it wasn't to be, with them splitting in 2015. Perrie remembered: "You're hurting enough as it is, let alone everyone having an opinion about you. Everyone wants to know your business and feels like they have ownership in that, you can't escape it so you may as well just sing about it."
Little Mix's most successful single, Shout Out To My Ex, was written by Perrie about her break up with Zayn. She recalled: "It was such a pivotal moment in Little Mix but at the same time it's hard to deal with that publicly.
"It just hurt and I went through a lot behind the scenes. It has a huge impact on your mental health." Things were about to get worse for Perrie when she headed out to perform with the girls in Las Vegas in 2017, with her mental health taking a huge hit.
She said: "I didn't want to go. I was so exhausted. I tried getting out of the trip but then when we got there I started experiencing panic attacks.
"I didn't know what was happening at the time - I didn't know what anxiety was - I ended up in hospital. I didn't want to let the girls down, I didn't want to upset them. They had to do it without me and I hated it and really resented myself for it."
Breaking down in tears, Perrie added: "When you're in a group dynamic, even though you're going through stuff individually you can't really be selfish. So I tried to put on a brave face."
Other claims made by artists in the documentary include allegations of forced abortions, pressure to lose weight at secluded 'fat loss camps' and bullying by record companies. Girlbands Forever is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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