You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘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, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
