You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in 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 ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted 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 informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
