You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, tackling every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then the singer had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the West End in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “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 automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
