You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, 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 living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
