You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
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 supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus 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 jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically 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 accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
