You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus 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 thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
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 used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
