You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees