You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was 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, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, 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. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album 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, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep 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 car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
