You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
