You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor 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 just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
