You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought 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. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat 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 jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
