Little Mix star Perrie Edwards has opened up publicly for the first time about the profound heartbreak she experienced after losing a baby at 24 weeks into her pregnancy. Speaking candidly on the "We Need to Talk" podcast on August 19, 2025, Edwards, now 32, described the ordeal as "the worst day of my life," shedding light on a deeply personal chapter that had, until now, remained private except to her closest friends and family.
Edwards, who shares her four-year-old son Axel with fiancé and former Liverpool footballer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, revealed that she became pregnant again less than a year after Axel’s birth in August 2021. She recounted discovering her pregnancy while rehearsing for the Little Mix tour in early 2022. "Axel wasn’t even walking yet and we were pregnant," she recalled, according to E! News. "I found out when I was rehearsing for the Little Mix tour. I was at rehearsals and I thought, ‘Oh I don’t feel good.’ Every symptom under the sun so I was like, ‘I think I’m pregnant.’"
Initially, the couple was overjoyed by the news. However, Edwards soon began to feel that something was amiss. She experienced frequent bleeding during the pregnancy, particularly before performances. "Every night before a show, I kept bleeding," she shared. Despite repeated visits to her doctor, she was reassured each time that the baby was fine—until a scan after 20 weeks brought devastating news. "That was just the worst day of my life, like horrendous," she explained. "I just knew something was wrong in the scan."
During the scan, Edwards described feeling as if she were having an "out of body experience," unable to process the doctor’s words. The reality only set in when her fiancé, Oxlade-Chamberlain, "put his hand on my leg and went, 'Oh no'," she told BBC News. The couple learned that their baby's heart had stopped beating after the pregnancy had passed the five-month mark. Edwards admitted she was so distraught that she couldn’t even drive home from the appointment, overcome with tears and shock. "I remember sobbing," she said, "I couldn’t see straight. I was just distraught. We basically lost the baby at, like, 24 weeks."
Edwards’ pain was magnified by the fact that she had already made plans for her new child. "I think when you’re fully carrying and you’re 24 weeks and you’ve planned out like their room and all these things, it’s really hard," she reflected. The trauma left her "a wreck," and she confessed, "I've never spoke about it before because obviously I ended up a wreck and nobody knows other than immediate friends and family."
This was not Edwards’ first experience with pregnancy loss. She revealed that her son Axel is a "rainbow baby"—a term for a child born after a miscarriage, stillbirth, or neonatal death. Edwards explained, "I had a miscarriage very early on with my first ever pregnancy. I remember finding out I was pregnant [but] I started bleeding not long after, and I went to hospital and I had the scan and they were like, 'There's no baby.'" She described the confusion and sadness of that early loss, noting, "I was like, 'Oh, I've made this up. Maybe I got a false positive or something.'" It was only later, after consulting her gynecologist, that she learned she had suffered a miscarriage. While that first loss was painful, Edwards acknowledged that the emotional impact was far greater with her later pregnancy, given how far along she was and the plans she had made.
Edwards also took a moment to praise fellow musician Myleene Klass for her advocacy around miscarriage awareness. Klass, who was recently awarded an MBE for her work, once said, "when you go through a miscarriage, the baby stays with you." Edwards found comfort in those words, saying, "I was like, 'Oh wow, that's so magical.' If I'm blessed enough to have another baby in the future, it makes me feel that they're still a part of it in some way."
The singer’s story is, unfortunately, not unique. According to BBC News, one in five pregnancies in the UK end in miscarriage, and each year there are around 2,000 terminations following pre-natal screenings. In 2017, a report into aftercare for women who had lost a baby during pregnancy found that while care was improving in many hospitals, it remained inconsistent across England, leaving some women feeling misinformed and distressed at a vulnerable time.
In response to these ongoing challenges, the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care announced a package of new measures in 2024 aimed at "boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls." Among these is a pilot scheme that will provide medical intervention for women after every miscarriage—a significant step forward in supporting women through pregnancy loss.
Edwards also addressed the intense public scrutiny faced by women in the public eye regarding their pregnancies. She criticized the speculation and pressure, emphasizing the vulnerability and privacy required during such times. "It’s a very vulnerable thing for women," she said. "It’s a very private thing for women. You don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors for women and pregnancy is scary. It’s worrying. There’s so many things that come with being pregnant and the stresses and the scans and the complications."
Beyond her personal struggles, Edwards has enjoyed remarkable professional success. She joined Little Mix during the eighth series of The X Factor in 2011, and the group quickly rose to international fame. Over the next decade, Little Mix sold 75 million records worldwide, becoming the third-biggest girl band of all time—behind the Spice Girls and the Supremes—and the first to spend over 100 weeks in the UK top 10. In 2021, the group made history as the first girl band to win Best British Group at the Brit Awards, before announcing a hiatus to allow members to "recharge" and pursue solo projects. Since then, all four members—Edwards, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, Jade Thirlwall, and Jesy Nelson—have released solo music to varying degrees of success.
Elsewhere in the podcast, Edwards reflected on her highly publicized relationship with One Direction star Zayn Malik, which began while she was a contestant on The X Factor. The couple were engaged for a time, but the relationship ended in 2015 amid rumors and media speculation. Edwards admitted, "Definitely at the time, I thought everything we experienced in our relationship was normal. Because it was my first relationship, first love. I was like, 'Oh, this is how it's supposed to feel. It's supposed to feel a little bit toxic. In some ways, this is probably normal, right?'" She added, "And then, when I became single, I was almost thinking, 'I never, ever want to go through that again.' I didn't even want to meet anybody. I was like, 'That's me done.' I don't think I could bear that pain. But now, I'm thinking, 'Oh, that probably wasn't good.'"
For those who have experienced similar losses, Edwards’ willingness to share her story offers comfort and solidarity. As she and many others continue to advocate for better support and understanding, the hope is that no woman feels alone in her grief.
