You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
