You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after 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 she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ 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 hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
