You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, 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! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
