You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ 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 bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly 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.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was selected 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 lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
