You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. 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, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
