You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-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 she had assured herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! 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
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
