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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s 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 grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

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

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. 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 for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”

Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees