🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, 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 doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several 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 cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees