You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in the capital. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning starring in the West End in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). 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 heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
