You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio 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 throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
