You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees