You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before 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 log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
