You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem 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 half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
