You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
