You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “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 responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial 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 terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
