You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
