You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
