You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically 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 accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
