You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) 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 follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, 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 difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “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 automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
