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Ally Brooke admitted she “didn’t enjoy” her time in the girl group Fifth Harmony because she allegedly endured mental and verbal abuse.
The 27-year-old said on her new podcast, The Ally Brooke Show, there was so much “toxicity” plaguing the band that it ruined her experiences.
“We will be in the history books. That’s pretty incredible. We had hits, such anthems and great songs. But just being honest, because I feel like having my own show calls for me to just be real and open with you guys … I hate saying this. My time in Fifth Harmony, I didn’t enjoy it. I didn’t love it,” she confessed during the premiere episode on Wednesday.
“It was hard because there was so much going on — so much behind-the-scenes, so much toxicity, so much abuse, so much abuse of power, so much mental abuse, verbal abuse. It’s horrible, and to me it’s a shame, because we were so big. I should have enjoyed myself more. I did so much for the group.”
Brooke didn’t specify the abuse she allegedly faced.
After noting how she and former groupmates Camila Cabello, Normani, Lauren Jauregui and Dinah Jane “took the entertainment industry by storm,” the Low Key singer claimed that Simon Cowell — who formed Fifth Harmony in 2012 after they competed on The X Factor — once told her she was the “glue that holds this group together.”
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“It was hard for many, many reasons. It was tough because I didn’t trust anybody around me, a lot of people that were in our circle. It really damaged me for quite some time, and for quite a while. I don’t want to hang onto the negative, but I have to be honest,” Brooke shared, adding that she remains “thankful” for the group despite it all.
“It changed my life. … I got to meet so many amazing friends. … We did so much, but it’s kind of the weird balance,” she explained. “It’s a balance of being grateful but also being OK with the fact that things were not OK for me.”
Fifth Harmony went on hiatus in March 2018, two years after Cabello abruptly left the group to pursue a solo career.
“Looking back at that, I sometimes don’t even realise how big we were,” Brooke added. “Because I guess if you’re part of something like that, you can’t even grasp because your life is moving 1000 miles a minute. It was such a whirlwind.”
This article originally appeared on Page Six and was reproduced with permission