You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
