You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
