You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
