You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
