You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted 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 positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! 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.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
