You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ 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 start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ 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 reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
