You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
