You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out 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…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘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 frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
