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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name J. 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 experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Jessie is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was planning an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact 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 face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

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

She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

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