You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, 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 grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? 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 beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band 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 about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
