You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last 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 breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
