You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
