You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘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 serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
