You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery 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 outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
