You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “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 automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
