You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with breast cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“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, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. 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 bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
