You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following 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 assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, 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 several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
