You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. 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 fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
