You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
