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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees