You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. 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 ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
