You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style 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, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘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 concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
