You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, 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. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ 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 considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however 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. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, 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 OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio the group while attending the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
