You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing 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 biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
