You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
