You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. At that moment readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and at long last the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the West End in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio the group while attending the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
