You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, 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 youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
