You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘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, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, 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. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
