You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
