You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
