You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song 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 coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my 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 fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
