You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
