You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! 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 ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
