You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
