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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees