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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘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 concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, 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 often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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