You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured 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
