You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up 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, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
