You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
