You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
