You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in 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 collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
