You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “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 sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “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 throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
