You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ 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 positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
