You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, 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 jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
