You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy 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.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
