You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
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 selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
