You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! 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. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage 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 dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
