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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Previous Struggles

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old 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 stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

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