You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. 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 rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
