You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
