You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s 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. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis 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, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
