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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the fans.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, 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 hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees