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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe 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 picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers 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 physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees