You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt 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 viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. 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.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
