You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She 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 were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
