You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, 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 perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
