You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, 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 OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
