You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, 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 recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show 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, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
