You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was fine. 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 debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
