You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician 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 simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
