Jade Thirlwall misses Little Mix appearance due to 'family problems'

Little Mix apologized for Jade Thirlwall missing a television appearance on Wednesday night (19Oct16) due to "family problems".

The girl band have been doing the rounds promoting their new single Shout Out to My Ex, and were interviewed on U.K. TV program The One Show on Wednesday.

However, while Perrie Edwards, Jesy Nelson and Leigh-Anne Pinnock were all present for the chat, Jade was missing, with Jesy explaining her absence.

"She’s had a few family problems so she can’t be here," Jesy said, as she and the girls pulled sad faces. The nature of the family problems was not revealed.

Fans were quick to take to social media to wish Jade well, with many assuming she had suffered a death in the family.

"So sad to hear about jade had a loss, always remember no matter what we’ll be with you our minnie," one wrote.

Little Mix are also due to appear on another U.K. TV show, This Morning, on Thursday (20Oct16) - it remains to be seen whether or not Jade will be present for that interview.

Her absence comes after she opened up about her battle with eating disorder anorexia nervosa, which was triggered by the death of a relative, in Little Mix's new book Our World.

"My periods stopped and things were getting out of control but I don't think I really cared about what was happening to me,” Jade wrote in the book.

"I felt so depressed at the time that I just wanted to waste away and disappear…"

While Jade was unaware she needed help, her family stepped in to get her back on track - taking her to a specialist in an attempt to help her overcome the disease.

"Anorexia is a self-destructive thing and you become stubborn, so when people are trying to tell you something you get it into your head that they're against you and you're not going to listen," Jade continued.

"It took going to hospital to make me realize that it wasn't a game, it was something really serious. 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.'"