You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on 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 hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown 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 however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. 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 perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
