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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Personal Battles and News

She was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness 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. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied 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 stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees