Perrie Edwards has said she and her Little Mix bandmates did not expect being in the band to “be this hard”.
The singer told ITV’s The Jonathan Ross Show that they are “willing to work” for their success in an interview filmed on Wednesday.
On Tuesday it was announced that Jesy Nelson is taking an extended break from the band for private medical reasons.
Edwards said: “I don’t think we expected it to be this hard.
“When you’re young and you think of being a popstar, you think, ‘Oh I want everyone to love me and ask for my autograph’.
She added: “We don’t rest, we don’t sleep. But we love success so we’re willing to work for it and it’s been an amazing 10 years.”
The girl band was formed in 2011, after the four members auditioned on The X Factor as soloists, but were then placed into a group by the judges in the show’s later stages.
Edwards’s fellow Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock said “people don’t see how hard it is, the things that go on behind the scenes”.
She added: “People don’t understand the pressure. People sometimes see popstars and think, ‘Oh it is glam and glitz’, but it is really hard.”
Jade Thirlwall also discussed how the band members support each other.
“We’ve got each other, that’s the beauty of being in a band,” the singer said.
“We just stay grounded with our friends and family.
“When we get time off we go straight home and see the family.
“Our mams would be the first to tell us off if we were getting a bit big headed.”
During the band’s appearance on the programme Thirlwall also discussed starting a new relationship during lockdown.
“We met on Zoom. I slid into the DMs. Then we had some Zoom dates,” she said.
Thirlwall added: “It’s nice doing it that way, we got to know each other.
“And I’d thought, if this goes terribly I’ll say the WiFi’s gone.”
The Jonathan Ross Show airs on Saturday at 9.50pm on ITV.