You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
