You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
