You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (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 attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
