Odd One Out, the documentary by Jesy Nelson is heartbreaking, it’s raw and it’s so truthful it cuts you to the bone. It’s compelling, thought-provoking stuff and is a must-watch!
Please note this article does contain spoilers and discusses themes that some may find upsetting, so please proceed with caution!
In 2011, Jesy was one-fourth of the girl band Little Mix, she was living the dream, the night Little Mix won the X Factor securing their future should be one of the happiest moments of her life, one she looks back on fondly. Sadly as the Odd One Out shows, Jesy was desperately sad, all she wanted to do was go home, forget it all, she didn’t care if she won or not. Behind the scenes, Jesy was struggling to deal with cruel and vile comments directed at her from trolls on social media.
When Little Mix was formed all the band were actively encouraged to create personal social media accounts on all the popular platforms, Jesy embraced it and very quickly saw the nasty side of social media.
Social Media came in to my life and I became a different person- Jesy Nelson
The barrage of abuse from strangers took its toll on her. People commented on everything from her looks to telling her to go and die. Her Mum and bandmates talk openly about how it changed her and how they watched her helplessly change.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2TsUBGHuT4/
The abuse became so bad that Jesy attempted to take her own life. She was rushed to the hospital. Watching her family and her bandmates struggle to talk about that period is heartbreaking and hits you in the gut as you can see how hard they find it to discuss and how raw a subject it still is that they very nearly lost Jesy.
I remember feeling really angry at all those people and I just wanted to find every single person that had ever said anything horrible about her and look them in the eye and say look what you’ve done to this girl. Everyone who said something should have been held accountable for making her feel like that – Jade Thirlwall
As was Jesy meeting with the parents of Sian Waterhouse who at the age of 16 sadly took her own life after being subject to trolling and cyberbullying across multiple social media platforms. Sian’s story highlights the stark reality of cyberbullying and the pain it causes.
Another aspect of the documentary that was quite hard to watch, but the sentiment of it was lovely, came from Chris Hughes Jesy’s boyfriend who talked about how Jesy found it hard when they first started dating to open up to him and she hadn’t let him see her hair “frizzy” and so he would make an excuse that he needed a cup of tea and would go look at a photo that Jesy had in the kitchen of her with frizzy hair, just so he could see “the real Jesy Nelson” behind the mask she put up. Another of the many moments of this documentary that had us in tears!
Jesy also so met with a group of young people who work with the charity Anti Bullying Pro, to find out their experiences with cyberbullying and how with the charity they are using their own personal stories to help others who are going through the same thing they did, as well as educating people on cyberbullying.
7 in 10 young people have experienced Cyberbullying, 26% of young people who have been cyberbullied reported feeling suicidal. These are alarming figures given how often we all use social media on a daily basis. Why are people not being held accountable for what they say online, as they would if they said it on the street? Countless people have suffered needlessly because of things other people say, and it has to stop.
Here at CelebMix, we want someday in the future for trolls and cyberbullies to be held accountable for what they say, to know that if they post an unnecessarily hurtful or derogatory comment about someone else that there will be consequences, why should it be the recipients of those hurtful words that suffer from there words? It has to change, the likes of Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, all the popular social platforms need to work to find a solution for this problem, find a way to work with law enforcement to combat this so that nobody else to suffer. There is currently a petition with over 74,000 signatures which calls for trolls to be held accountable, you can sign it and read more about it here.
If you or anyone you know has been affected by cyberbullying, there are numerous charities you can reach out to who offer help and advice 24/7. Ditch the label, Cybersmile and Anti Bullying Pro.
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