You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
