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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees