You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio 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 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
