You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. 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 perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
