You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s 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. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
