You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, 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 yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. 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. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined 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 car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
