You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus 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 join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, 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 diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
