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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom 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 says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees