You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal recently and my affected breast now appears as a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
