You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
