You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s 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. She is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
