🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees