You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer 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 interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
