You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
