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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine 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, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly 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.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees