You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer 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, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically 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.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
