You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying 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, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited 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 was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire 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 surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group 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 lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
