You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
