‘It has pushed me to live more fully’: Jessie J on her health battle, career returns and cracking China

You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ 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 scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time 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 blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

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