You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after 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 answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
