You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” 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 wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I 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. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
