You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
