You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
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, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. 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 fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
