🔗 Share this article

You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ 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, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees