You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, 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 beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
