You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
