Jade Thirlwall reveals moment she realised her boyfriend was a keeper following meltdown over bandmate’s exit
SINGER Jade Thirlwall has revealed she realised her boyfriend was a keeper when he bought her a Greggs pasty to cheer her up after a meltdown.
The Shout Out to My Ex star broke down and wept in front of Jordan Stephens over Jesy Nelson’s departure from pop group Little Mix.
She said the Rizzle Kicks rapper’s response was to fetch her a treat from bakery chain Greggs.
Jade, 32, said: “We were driving up North to see my family.
“I just wailed and wailed for an hour or something.
“We parked up at services and he was like, ‘do you want some peace?’. And I was like, ‘yes’.
“That’s when I knew he was a keeper because he was like, ‘are you alright on your own for a little bit?’. I mean, I couldn’t actually speak. So I was screaming.
“And then he went out into the shops and he came back with a pasty from Greggs and I thought, ‘that’s the one’.”
Jade also told The Louis Theroux Podcast she had “grieved” for Jesy ever since she quit the girl group in late 2020 but has not spoken to her since.
She said of her emotional breakdown: “I was dating Jordan, it was very early days at the time.
“And so I was scared to show him what this meant for me.
“I think in his head he was like, ‘Oh, you were a band, someone left, that happens all the time’.
“We were driving. I was being really short with him.
“Then honestly, out of nowhere, I literally bellowed like a f***ing whale or something.
“I’d never cried like that since my grandad died when I was 13.
“I think it was all the years of love and everything we’d been through together — the good things, the bad things, you know, and enabling behaviours or being there for each other.”
Jade has now been with Jordan, 32, for four-and-a-half years.
Jesy, 33, recently announced she is pregnant with twins with her rapper boyfriend Zion Foster, 26.
Other celeb fans of Greggs’ baked goods include telly cook Nigella Lawson, Capital FM radio host Jordan North and the US actor Jake Gyllenhaal.
But Jade, from South Shields, goes above and beyond in her support for the chain — which was formed in nearby Newcastle.
For two years on the trot Greggs catered her birthday party.
At her 30th birthday bash in December 2022, Jade celebrated with a three-tier Greggs-themed cake alongside personalised bags of sausage rolls.
Each bag read: “30 never looked so delicious.”
Greggs commented on Instagram pictures from the bash: “Ain’t no party like a pastry party. Happy 30th @jadethirlwall.”