You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition 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 IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
