You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
