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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees