You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, 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 film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
