You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
