You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
