You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
