You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
