You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment 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 struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial 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 found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! 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. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
