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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted 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 believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees