You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; 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, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
