You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
