You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, 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 flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
