You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought 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. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
