You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
