Little Mix's Perrie: 'I got into fights defending my gay friends'

Little Mix’s Perrie Edwards has revealed that she used to get into fights defending her gay friends, saying she got “so pissed off” at the abuse they would receive.

Speaking to Attitude for our latest 21st birthday issue, the group explain that going to performing arts schools meant people were “more open-minded” about boys who like boys, and that they all had gay friends from a young age.

But Perrie reveals that her own gay friends would often get abuse on nights out, and admits she often ended up in fights to defend them.

“I think because we did go to performing arts schools being gay was a lot more accepted, the 21-year-old says. “People were more open-minded.

“But when we’d go on a night out my gay friends would get stick and I’d get so pissed off. I’d get into fights over standing up for our gay mates, saying ‘who are you to judge?’

Band mate Jesy Nelson adds: “Acceptance has got a lot better these days. I went to a theatre school and there were loads of gay boys there. And it wasn’t a big deal”.

Little Mix – who are gearing up to release new single Black Magic next week (July 5) – are hitting the stage at London’s G-A-Y tonight (July 4), and member Jade Thirwall admits she loves attending the club’s weekly amateur male strip contest, Porn Idol.

“I love gay culture”, the 22-year-old Geordie says. “I’ll be at Heaven every saturday or I’ll go and see Porn idol at G-A-Y.

“I can’t get enough of it. I want to be RuPaul.”

And the reason she’s such a fan of Porn Idol?

“Lots of willies”.

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves, Jade.

You can read our full interview with the girls in the 21st birthday issue of Attitude – our biggest ever, at a whopping 214 pages – in which we also pay tribute to 12 ‘extraordinary ordinary’ people who we feel best embody the spirit of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender pride.

Elsewhere in this massive issue:

Fans of manband Collabro are in for a treat, as the boys strip off for a very racy shoot,
Drag icon RuPaul deconstructs the real meaning behind blokes in wigs,
‘Same Love’ singer Mary Lambert on her very personal passion for equal rights,
Kavana comes clean about his past drug use and life in the closet as a teen pop star,
Plus, what better way to celebrate our 21st birthday than to profile 21 young LGBT people who were born in the year the magazine was first published, back in 1994. Their lives, their loves, what being LGBT means to them in 2015 – in their own words.

You can download this very special issue of Attitude now from Pocketmags.com/Attitude or order a copy from newsstand.co.uk/Attitude. It’s out now in shops, too.

Little Mix’s Perrie: ‘I got into fights defending my gay friends’

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