You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
