You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler 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 singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-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 persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ 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 goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
