You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
