You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer 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 beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ 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 fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
