You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, 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 cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. 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 fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
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 now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have 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 half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
