You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
