You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded 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 debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
