You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has joined the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
