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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees