You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. 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 so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
