You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album 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 thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
