You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
