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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees