You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells 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 years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but then I just strolled down with a gown on and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now resembles a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut starring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
