Why Jessie J Hugged Kate Middleton After Being Briefed Not To

Jessie J may have “briefed not to” hug Princess Kate Middleton — but she decided to throw caution to the wind.

“I just saw a mom that has also gone through cancer publicly and I just wanted to give her a hug,” Jessie J, 37, shared in a Wednesday, December 3, appearance on This Morning. “It was as simple as that.”

Kate, 43 — who shares Prince George, 12, Princess Charlotte, 10, and Prince Louis, 7, with husband Prince William — announced that she was diagnosed with an undisclosed form of cancer in March 2024. She revealed that she was in remission earlier this year. Meanwhile, the “Price Tag” singer — who shares son Sky, 2, with partner, Chanan Safir Colman — was diagnosed with breast cancer in June.

Although she was “respectful” and asked to give her a hug, Jessie J went on to say that she “didn’t see” Kate as just the “Princess of Wales.”

“It’s inspiring and I know the days that she has maybe gone through,” she explained. “I just wanted to give her a hug mom to mom, human to human.”

In June, Jessie J revealed that she was diagnosed with “early breast cancer.”

“I’m highlighting the word early. Cancer sucks in any form but I’m holding onto the word early,” the singer told fans in a social media video at the time. “I have been in and out of tests throughout this whole period. I just wanted to be open and share it. One, because, selfishly, I do not talk about it enough. I’m not processing it because I’m working so hard. I also know how much sharing in the past has helped me with other people giving me their love and support and also their own stories. I’m an open book.”

Jessie J underwent a mastectomy later that month and was set to undergo a second surgery that had to be postponed.

Nearly six months later, Jessie J gave an update on her health, noting that she is feeling “good” and she has liked sharing updates on her social media.

“It’s been a lovely chance to really show that side of my personality, that I am the kind of person that in hard times … put your umbrella up and just keep walking through the rain,” she explained on This Morning on Wednesday. “My blessings outweigh anything that’s happened. And the beauty of all of this is that I’ve had quality time with my mom, I’m more present as a parent … I’m here.”

Aside from reconnecting with her mom and as a parent herself, Jessie J added that she has also been “able to have these beautiful connective talks with people.”

“My friends have checked their breasts and gone, ‘I found something, and I’m going to get it looked at,’ that would never have [happened] before,” she shared. “I would never have thought that I would have found a lump and gone and it be cancer, but it was. And you face it, and we move through positivity, and I’m just grateful that I didn’t have chemotherapy. My story was very simple in the best way it could have been.”

In addition to her battle with cancer, Jessie J has also recently been open about other health struggles she has gone through.

“I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke,” she said in an interview with The Guardian on Saturday, November 29. “Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

In addition to the first set of obstacles, Jessie J revealed that as a kid she was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a health condition that can cause an irregular fast heartbeat, dizziness and heart palpitations.

Although she has faced significant health challenges, Jessie J shared that her mom and dad “always did such a great job of not making that the definitive thing” in her life.

“And not making me define my character by my worst days,” she told the outlet. “That was amazing and has carried me through now. They’ve made me live life more, eat better, work out more. Made me live in the moment.”