You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
