You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
