You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, 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 awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, 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 ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
