You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically 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
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
