You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes 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 no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
