You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, 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 love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
