You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love 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 diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free 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 good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
