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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees