🔗 Share this article

You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before 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 thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees