You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. 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 subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. 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 long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
