The role that saved Mary J Blige's life

Mary J Blige is feeling the cold. It is a sunny autumn day in London but the air conditioning in her hotel room is turned up high, writes Laura Harding. 

These desperate times call for distinctly unglamorous measures so she has bundled herself up in the fluffy bathrobe that was hanging in the wardrobe.

This look, bathrobe aside, seems in keeping with the Mary J Blige we already know — the performer, the show woman, the winner of nine Grammys, the queen of hip-hop soul.