Jesy Nelson, whose Prime Video docuseries, Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix, debuts tomorrow (February 13), opens up about her estranged dad.
The six-part series follows Jesy as she prepares to welcome twins, sharing the reality of her high-risk pregnancy. But alongside the joy and anxiety of becoming a mum, she also revisits the challenges she faced growing up — and the intense scrutiny she endured during her time in Little Mix.
Jesy Nelson opens up about estranged dad on docuseries
In episode two, Jesy speaks candidly about her estranged father, John Nelson, whose past was thrust into the spotlight while she was competing on The X Factor back in 2011.
She recalls being taken into a room by a “PR person” and asked: “Is there anything you’re not telling me about your childhood?”
Jesy said she insisted there wasn’t, explaining she didn’t “let on that anything had happened in my childhood”.
The Wings singer continued: “He was like, ‘We’ve got a story coming out about your dad.’ And I remember thinking, ‘The [bleep] do you prepare for this?!”
The series then cuts to newspaper headlines reading: “Little Mix dad jailed over killing.”
Jesy admits she hadn’t told her bandmates — Jade Thirlwall, Leigh-Anne Pinnock and Perrie Edwards — about her dad’s past, and feared the fallout could cost them their place in the competition.
“How am I going to potentially now lose my dream because of something my dad did when he was young?” she asked.
She later revealed she received “so much hate” once the story became public.
John Nelson’s overturned murder conviction
In 2011, reports revealed that Jesy’s dad, John, had been convicted of murder before she was born.
He was 20 when he became involved in a violent brawl in Dagenham, during which amateur boxer Paul Reidy was fatally stabbed.
Witnesses told police they saw Nelson spray ammonia into the faces of two people before allegedly stabbing the victim.
After a turbulent trial — during which friends and family members were barred from the courtroom following a confrontation between the two families — John was convicted of murder and affray. The murder conviction was later overturned on appeal. However, he served a prison sentence for affray.
While in prison, he married his childhood sweetheart, Janis. The couple later had four children, including Jesy, before he was released.
At the time the reports surfaced, Jesy — then 20 — had not seen her dad for 15 years.
He was also arrested following a hit-and-run
Five years later, her father made headlines again after a fatal hit-and-run crash.
John was arrested after his Range Rover was involved in a collision with a motorcycle in Gidea Park, Essex.
The motorcyclist, Craig Voyce — a father of three — was taken to hospital but later died from his injuries.
Police said the vehicle failed to stop at the scene and was later found abandoned in a nearby car park.
John, who was 51 at the time and worked as a garden centre owner, was arrested nearby. He denied driving the vehicle, and authorities said two men reportedly with him had left the scene.
He told The Sun: “I was not the driver of this vehicle. The police know I was not the driver.”
In 2023, Jesy self-released her song Bad Thing, which was lyrically inspired by growing up with a father who was in and out of prison.
Jesy Nelson: Life After Little Mix debuts on Prime Video on Friday, February 13
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