You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold 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. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of 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 ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
