You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells 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 an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘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 was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
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. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
