You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
