You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, 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, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune 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, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
