You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with breast cancer. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. 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 frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an performance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she remarks, 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 difficult experience. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group the group while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
