You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown 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 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 hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
