You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, 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 obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied 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 performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
