You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. 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 join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
