You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
