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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, 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 ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees