You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, 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 obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
