You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) 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 follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
