You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
