You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly coping with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, 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, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
