🔗 Share this article

You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.

She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the fans.”

Personal Battles and News

She was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake 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 serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ 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 found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees