You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
