You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
