You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery 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 medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “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 joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
