You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, 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 Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in 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 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
