You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
