You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ 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 terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, 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 achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
