You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. 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 twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
