You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, 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 London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
