The singer Jessie J has always worn her heart on her sleeve. Nine years ago, when she was proudly bisexual, she cast her female lover in the video for her breakthrough hit, Do It Like A Dude. In 2014, as she migrated towards heterosexuality, she announced the change with a forthright tweet: ‘I fancy/date/love men and only men’. It’s no surprise that with romance again in the air, her new boyfriend looms large in her conversation.
“I’m thinking about calling my next tour ‘Magic Mike and I’ and having Chan open for me as a stripper,” she cackles. “He’d do it too! That would sell some tickets, eh?”
“Chan” is the American actor Channing Tatum, star of the 2012 comedy Magic Mike as well as such box-office hits as 21 Jump Street and Foxcatcher. The 31-year-old Jessie, born Jessica Cornish, rearranges the hem of her figure-hugging brown dress when she talks about Tatum. They have been dating since last autumn.
Then, as if by magic, he texts.
“Aw, he wants to know what suit he should wear for his meeting,” she chuckles, gazing lovingly at her screen.
It seems safe to ask how they met.
“Uh uh, no,” she says. “Chan and I got photographed before our relationship was even a thing and that created such pressure. We’ve needed time to get to know each other. We’ve just had our first holiday together, which was wonderful, but that’s all I’m saying.”
Is it fair to say she is happy living on 21 Jump Street?
“Oh I am very happy on 21 Jump Street! I always look for a guy with a good sense of humour and good morals. And hygiene. A man who showers is very important.”
It’s almost ten years since Essex-born Cornish became famous with her self-penned hits Do it Like a Dude and Price Tag. She was a contemporary of Adele’s at the Brit performing arts school, and enjoyed Top Ten album success in the UK and US. Yet in the UK she seemed to get bogged down in pointless debates over her sexual preferences (she was heavily criticised for explaining her bisexuality as a “phase”), and moved to the US in 2014.
“First and foremost I regret ever tweeting it was a phase,” she says.
Why apologise? It was a phase, wasn’t it?
“It’s a hurtful expression for some. But I was young. Aged 19, I was madly in love with a woman and I moved in with her. She was not my first girlfriend either. I was heartbroken when that relationship ended, but then I dated guys and women. I was a young woman experimenting between the ages of 20 and 30 like anyone should.”
Behind the scenes, life has become quite serious for the singer. Cornish has struggled with a heart condition called Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome since she was eight years old, and suffered a minor stroke in 2015, forcing the cancellation of some tour dates. Then she was diagnosed with adenomyosis, a condition in which the inner lining of the womb breaks through the muscle wall. It can cause agonising stomach cramps and heavy periods. It can also indicate a heightened risk of miscarriage or premature birth. It was a brutal blow.
“The pain I’ve been through with this disease is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to face,” she says. “I get severe pain, which I have to manage, and psychologically, well, having children was always a big thing for me. I may be infertile, which, not gonna lie, would be devastating.”
Adenomyosis doesn’t preclude having children, but doctors offered her a hysterectomy, so I can only conclude that her case is serious. She declined the operation and instead pinned her hopes on a change of diet. She hasn’t eaten sugar for four years, and two years ago she went vegan.
“Basically, I am still hoping. Some days it seems possible I might have children and others not. I have to accept that becoming a mother is going to be a battle.”
Cornish is disarmingly frank. She has even channelled her anguish into a song called Four Letter Word. “Baby” is the four-letter word in question. The lyrics address her feelings of heartbreak to a notional child: “I pray I get the chance to bloom,” she sings, “cause someone’s ready for me, waiting to feel all my love and make you with me.”
She isn’t about to discuss whether Tatum might be waiting, but she has met his six-year-old daughter, Everly, from a previous relationship. I suggest that must have been hard.
“God no! She’s just six and absolutely lovely,” she says.
Of course there are other ways she could have children . . .
“Oh yeah, I might go down the route of adoption or even surrogacy. I pray I have children the natural way, but if not, I’ll deal with it.”
Cornish has just returned to our screens as a judge on ITV’s The Voice Kids, a junior version of the adult singing talent show. She beams at the very idea of mentoring 7 to 14-year-olds.
“Oh my God, when a seven-year-old sings a solo you just want to cuddle them. It’s a totally different feel to the adult version of the show.” Cornish was a judge for four years on this version too, before she left in 2013.
Cornish is warm, funny and open. It seems extraordinary that another journalist last year charged her with an “unbearable earnestness and an astonishing lack of humility”.
“Oh, but I cringe how loud I was in the past sometimes,” she says.
She once complained that the UK didn’t take her voice seriously. Nevertheless, she has established a global career. Tomorrow she flies to perform in Romania, then returns to London briefly before setting off to her second home in Los Angeles.
“I’ve been performing since I was a kid, so to me life is work work work. Obviously my health issues mean I’ve had to learn balance. I now have Sundays off. I wake, have a probiotic, then a celery juice. After that it’s breakfast and then a workout. If I’m in London I Iike to walk through the city and then I’ll go home, meditate and then cook.”
In LA the weather is more reliable. She might head off camping or hiking for the weekend.
“I’m happy outdoors and I’m happy around people. Don’t I look happy to you?”
I’d say she looks reasonably content. But then her phone pings again. A broad grin speeds across her face. Now she looks happy.
The Voice Kids continues tonight on ITV1 at 8pm
JESSIE J’S PERFECT WEEKEND
Pilates or personal trainer?
Personal trainer
Clubbing or pubbing?
Pubbing, but no alcohol
Spa retreat or cultural city break?
City break
Soy chai latte or builders’ tea?
Peppermint please
Signature dish?
Vegan mac’n’cheese
What’s your screensaver?
A picture of my family
Love Island or Scandi box set
Love Island
I couldn’t get through my weekend without . . .
Comfy clothes
