You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
