You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
