You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, 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 spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
