🔗 Share this article

You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending 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 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees