You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, 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. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
