You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
