You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as 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 have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
