You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s 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 beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
