You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently 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 breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
