You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
