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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees