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 newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! 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.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
