You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees