You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went 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 responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
