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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut 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, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees