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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, 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 the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees