You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. 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. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
