You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘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 contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, 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. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! 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 perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
