Fifth Harmony have hit back at Camila Cabello, insisting she "refused" to attend meetings about her future.
The remaining four members of the girl group – Ally Brooke, Normani Kordei, Dinah Hansen, and Lauren Jauregui – have released a second statement about her exit, claiming they tried to arrange countless meetings to tempt her to stay and even set up a group counselling session she didn’t attend.
In a statement posted on their Instagram account, they wrote: "We know you are hurt and confused, we are too. We know you want answers. And you deserve them, as you are just as much a part of this group as the four of us are.
The last thing we want to do is engage in a battle of we said, she said, but we’ve let our story play out in press and on social media for too long. So, to our Harmonizers, who we care so deeply about, we want you to hear everything from us, unedited, not manipulated, just us, to you.
"Over the past several months, we have consistently made every effort to sit down and discuss the future of Fifth Harmony with Camila. We have spent the past year and a half (since her initial solo endeavor) trying to communicate to her and her team all of the reasons why we felt Fifth Harmony deserved at least one more album of her time, given the success of this past year that we’d all worked so hard for. We called for group meetings which she refused, we asked LA Reid and the label to step in and try to set meetings, which again, she refused. We even went as far as group counseling which she did not show up to. So no, after months of rejection from her and her team, these supposed lengthy conversations in fact never happened, although we pleaded. We have tried with exhausted efforts and hearts to keep this group alive as the five of us, and we want it to be very clear that unfortunately those efforts were not mutual. (sic)"
The ‘Worth It’ hitmakers concluded their statement by confirming they will continue to make music for their fans – known as Harmonizers – and wished Camila the best.
It comes after the 19-year-old star issued a statement saying she was "shocked" by how the group handled her departure after they first claimed they had only found out she was leaving through her "representatives".
She wrote: "I was shocked to read the statement the Fifth Harmony account posted without my knowing. The girls were aware of my feelings through the long, much needed conversations about the future that we had during tour. Saying that they were just informed through my representatives that I was ‘leaving the group’ is simply not true. (sic)"
The four remaining members initially released a statement via their Instagram account, which began: "After 4 and a half years of being together, we have been informed via her representatives that Camila has decided to leave Fifth Harmony. We wish her well."