You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
