🔗 Share this article

You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and no new music. 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 good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. 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 long period.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees