You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
