You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘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 bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
