You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances 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, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk 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 goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
