You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “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 was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
