You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic 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, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside 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 yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
