Huntress have been making quite a name for themselves in the metal scene the last few years, and that's thanks in part to their frontwoman, Jill Janus. But, in a shocking new interview with Revolver, Janus reveals she has been battling with a lifelong mental illness.
At age 13, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. At age 20, she was struggling with mental health and checked into a mental health facility where she was diagnosed with, in her own words, "bipolar with schizoaffective disorder, which progressed into schizophrenia and dissociative identity disorder."
Janis also revealed that she struggles with long-term memory loss:
I can’t remember anybody from high school, either. I lost my long-term memory and can’t remember names, faces, or even places. We’ll be at a venue on tour and Blake will be like, “We’ve played here two times before,” but I’ll have no recollection.
During the course of the interview, Janis revealed she developed a split personality in her 20s, taking on the persona Penelope Tuesdae.
My friends started to notice that I was developing these other personalities, almost as protection. That’s also why I started to change my name along the way. I was slowly not wanting to be who I was. That started to come into play at the age of 18 when I was going to music school in Manhattan. I took on this persona Penelope Tuesdae, which helped me go out into nightlife and conceal my other life as an opera singer. I really wanted to split the two lives. Penelope Tuesdae started to take on a life of her own.
Longtime Injection readers may recall that details of Janus' past surfaced a few years ago, when her alter ego was discovered to be a topless nightlife DJ.
During the interview, she revealed she recently got out of the hospital and was prescribed new medication. But of all the shocking revelations in the interview, none were more shocking that Janus revealing she recently was diagnosed with uterine cancer:
During the process of writing and recording our third album, I began to feel like something bad was growing within me. When we were on tour with Amon Amarth, I started to bleed heavily between my periods. I had a procedure, and my doctor found early stages of cancer in my uterus. I will have a hysterectomy in June. I know I’ll survive. I’ve survived much worse.
Our thoughts are with Jill. On a Facebook post promoting the interview, Huntress announced that the hysterectomy was successful and she is currently cancer free. Huntress have recently completed a new album, due out 9/25 on Napalm Records.
The full interview is available in the August/September issue of Revolver.
If you or somebody you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, To Write Love on Her Arms, and SuicidePreventionLifeline.org.
