You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free 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 says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
