You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically 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
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
