You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
