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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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