You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. 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 right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
