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You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees