You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
