You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. 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 join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
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. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
