You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
