You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
