You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness 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 the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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 ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
