You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
