You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
