Perrie Edwards reveals Jesy Nelson’s surprising role in her romance with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain-Rebecca Sayce-Entertainment – Metro

Little Mix star Perrie Edwards has revealed how her former bandmate Jesy Nelson had a hand in her romance with Alex Oxalde-Chamberlain.

The singer and the England footballer, both 31, were first linked in November 2016 before confirming their romance the following year.

They welcomed their first child, Axel, in August 2021 and Alex popped the question in June 2022.

But none of this would have been possible without Jesy – who left Little Mix in 2020 – after she urged Perrie to reach out to the sports star.

In an interview with BBC Radio 2, Perrie opened up about speaking to Alex for the first time

‘I feel like Alex and I were meant to be together,’ she said. ‘Our paths crossed so many times, randomly, that it was like we were destined to meet.’

Perrie and Alex announced their relationship in 2017 (Picture: JM Enternational/Getty Images)

Perrie credits her former Little Mix bandmate Jesy for giving her the courage to reach out to Alex (Picture: Neil Mockford/GC Images)

She continued to host Vernon Kay: ‘I saw him on Gogglebox, and I was watching it like “Oh my God, I really fancy him, he’s well funny” and then Jesy was like “Message him: When are you taking me for a drink?”

Perrie admitted she thought this tactic would be a little ‘bold’, to which Jesy replied: ‘Well what have you got to lose?’

‘We were in Europe at the time – I think we were in Germany or something – and we were boarding a flight,’ Perrie continued.

‘I messaged him and I was like “Oh, d’you know what? What have I got to lose? Who cares? If he pies me off, he pies me off.”‘

‘I messaged him saying “Oh we were just watching Gogglebox and you popped up like it was a really cool episode. How are you? Do you want to take me for a drink?”

After sending the message, her flight took off leaving Perrie in a state of ‘suspense’ for the whole time she was in the air wondering if Alex had read or even replied to the message.

The couple hit it off immediately, welcoming their son Axel in 2021 and getting engaged a year later (Picture: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

The Black Magic hitmaker described the experience as ‘mortifying’, but it all paid off in the end.

‘When I landed he was like “Oh, yeah, sure. Let’s go for a drink” and that was it,’ she shared.

She ended the sweet anecdote by saying it was the ‘best thing she ever did’, proving once and for all that true love really does exist.

Fans will no doubt be surprised to hear Jesy included in Perrie’s anecdote considering her departure from Little Mix was rather tumultuous in 2019, with her having very little to zero contact with her former bandmates since.

In July, Perrie stated: ‘We don’t talk, and haven’t done for a long time, it’s really sad, it’s heartbreaking.

Perrie (r) recently said that she hasn’t spoken to Jesy ‘for a long time’ (Picture: Getty Images)

‘But sometimes these things happen and people decide they want to part ways, and that’s absolutely fine. I would rather it went differently, but you can’t control how things go.’

As for her relationship with Alex, Perrie revealed earlier this year that she has ‘never lived’ with her fiance, despite them being loved up for almost 10 years.

‘When he was playing for Liverpool and based in Manchester, it was so easy to do the back and forth but Turkey is a little bit further and he doesn’t get a lot of time off,’ she said while appearing on The Jonathan Ross Show.

‘I’m trying to launch a solo career whilst having a two-year-old so it is a lot to juggle but we make it work for the ones we love don’t we?

‘We’ve never lived together anyway – the whole eight years we’ve been in a relationship we’ve never actually lived together.’

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