You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, 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 ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
