You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. 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 jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
