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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I basically roast the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat 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. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, 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 performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees