JESY Nelson was “injected with painkillers 50 times” before going on stage.
The ex Little Mix star, 29 – who quit the band earlier in the week – said she felt like a “robot” and wasn’t expected to take time off to recover from illness.
Jesy made the allegations in two autobiographies of Little Mix from 2012 and 2016, called Ready to Fly: Our Official Story and Our World: Our Official Autobiography.
The singer said she was injected before performing on Simon Cowell’s show America’s Got Talent in 2015.
She wrote: “On the day, my shoulder went and I couldn’t move. In the end I had something like 50 injections and my back was smothered in bruises.
“Before the show, when I was getting my hair and make-up done, people were feeding me coffee to wake me up.
“I was so out of it I can’t remember anything much about the performance, just that on stage I couldn’t get my balance. It was awful, the worst thing I’ve had to do.
“In a normal job you can take a day off and no one has a go at you, whereas in this job if you miss a performance, everyone’s writing articles, commenting on social media and throwing abuse.”
She also revealed that a year earlier she was given antibiotics for a tooth issue so powerful they made her vomit.
The star also said that she became so worried about her mum’s heart condition that the stress made an infected ear start to bleed.
She continued: “The pain got so bad I was in bed screaming. What’s weird in this job is that people don’t seem to believe we get ill like everyone else does – or that the people close to us get ill and we need to be with them.”
The Sun has contacted Jesy’s reps for comment.
Little Mix became the first band to win The X Factor in 2011 and was signed onto Simon Cowell Syco’s label.
She joined the band alongside Perrie Edwards, 27, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, 29, and Jade Thirlwall, 27.
Jesy told her followers that she was leaving Little Mix with a “heavy heart” as she reflected on the success the band have enjoyed since winning The X Factor in 2011, insisting it had been the “most incredible time” of her life.
She continued: “I can’t thank you all enough from the bottom of my heart for making me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
“You have always been there to support and encourage me and I will never ever forget it.
“The truth is, recently being in the band has really taken a toll on my mental health. I find the constant pressure of being in a girl group and living up to expectations very hard.”
