You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. 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 long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
