You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
