You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success 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 West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
