Jade Thirlwall looked happy and healthy as Little Mix performed their new single Shout Out To My Ex on The X Factor at the weekend.
But, in their new book Our World, Jade has opened up about her secret battle with anorexia.
The singer confesses her struggle with the eating disorder even left her in hospital and explains how negative feelings about her body spiralled into a destructive cycle.
Jade reveals in the opening chapter of the book that "a culmination a lot of stuff," including bullying and the death of a close relative, triggered the onset of anorexia when she was just 13 years old.
Jade explains she began skipping meals and would hide food or "throw it in the bin" when no one was looking.
"My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don’t think I really cared about what was happening to me.
"I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear," she wrote.
Jade admits the eating disorder was so self-destructive that she started to think people were against her. It took being taken to hospital to for her to realise there was a serious problem and for the singer to willingly accept treatment.
"They sat me down in the clinic and were quite tough at first, spelling it out: 'You're destroying your body and if you keep doing this you will die.'"
Things really turned around for Jade when she saw a friend – who was going through a similar thing – have to be admitted to a specialist hospital unit.
"I thought, "f*cking hell I can’t do this to my family."
"I want people to know they can get help … and that there is a way to get better," she added.
Little Mix's book Our World is available to buy now
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