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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician 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 okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees