You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and at long last the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great 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 hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
