You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist 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 describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
