‘It has made me live life more’: Jessica Cornish on cancer, comebacks and conquering the Chinese market

You couldn’t make it up, Jessie J remarks. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was told she had breast cancer.

The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”

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