You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. 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 difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
