You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call 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 a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
