You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped 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 Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “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 aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
