You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
