You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on 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. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
