You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, 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 telling it as it is. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the trio Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. 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 was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
