You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
