You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news 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 face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
