You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful 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 found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
