Jessie J: 'Kids used to throw stones at my head'

Jessie J has said that she has embraced becoming a role model for her fans.

The 'Who You Are' star spoke to the December issue of Cosmopolitan about having people look up to her.

"Sometimes you don't choose things, things choose you, and I feel like the role model thing has chosen me," Jessie J told the magazine. "It's important to embrace the limelight and I know it sounds like a cliché, but the kids need me not to let them down."



Speaking about her own experiences of being bullied, she said: "It was in a malicious, horrible way. Kids used to throw stones at my head. But you know what? Being bullied means you're special and that's what I want all the kids to know."

Of her partying, she continued: "I don't think I have ever been drunk. What do you call drunk? I'd never get paralytic because I couldn't handle it and I wouldn't want to be someone else's responsibility. I've been tipsy, yeah, but alcohol is not my confidence."

The 23-year-old, who will serve as a coach on new BBC singing competition The Voice, went on to insist that she has "never used" her sexuality as a "gimmick".

"I've always said I've dated guys and I've dated girls," she said. "If I'm in love, I'm in love. I'm not going to hide it."



However, she admitted that her rise to fame has changed her relationships with some of her friends.

"Some of my friends will go, 'You've changed', and I'll say, 'No, you've changed'," she explained. "Your reaction to my life has changed. I've had to do things differently. There have been friends' birthdays when I've said, 'I love you and I want to be there but I don't want it to be all about me, and if I come it will be'."

The full interview and shoot appears in the December issue of Cosmopolitan, out now.

> Jessie J works with David Guetta for new album
> Jessie J, James Morrison tease music video for new single 'Up'

Watch Jessie J's 'Who You Are' video below: