You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, her song Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees