You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following 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 okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
