You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “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 affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
