You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
