You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis 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 contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, 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 flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
