🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “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, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked 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 blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. 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 twelve months.”

Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees