You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet 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 large glasses. Picture motorcycle style 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 movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
