You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, 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 obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees