You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. 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 so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking 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 indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
