You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
