You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. 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.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the trio the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
