You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
