You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ 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 call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ 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 viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
