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You can’t imagine it, Jessie J says. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, 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 March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

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