You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. 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 ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
