You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my 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 assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
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 experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
