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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

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

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees