You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, 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 wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
