You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘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.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
