You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
