You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought 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 then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points 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 stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of 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 ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
