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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “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.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees