You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness 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 blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
