You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
