You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. 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 mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down 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. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
