You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘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 rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). 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 heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
