You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
