You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free 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, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
