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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before 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, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, 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 making her debut performing 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 tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

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