You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
