You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, 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! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
