You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
