You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
