‘It has pushed me to live more fully’: Jessica Cornish on cancer, comebacks and cracking China

You wouldn’t believe it, Jessie J remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style 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, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

She is no stranger to illness. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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