You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
