You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged 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 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, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked 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 blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
