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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted 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 good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

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. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

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