You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances 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, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers 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 specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
