You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt 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 walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career 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 told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
