You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
