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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior 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 was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

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

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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