You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
