You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring 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 medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
