You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped 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 the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
