🔗 Share this article

You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “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 planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought 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 responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees