You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ 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 contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
