You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 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 am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
