You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” 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 in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
