You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
