You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
