You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on 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 fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. 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 twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
