You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, 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 wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
