You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in a musical (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 lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
