You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press 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 July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
