You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
