You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
