You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on 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 she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
