You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
