You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about 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 reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
