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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies 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. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! 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.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees