You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen 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 palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
