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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm 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 Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees