You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
