You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen 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 irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
