You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
