You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
