You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! 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 flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in 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 recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
