You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ 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 reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
