You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
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, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style 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. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). 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 heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
