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You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, the upbeat 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 coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. 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 hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

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