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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! 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 perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees