You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
