You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia 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 six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
