You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s 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 fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
