You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
