You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, tackling every moment of pain she’d faced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now resembles a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside career highs, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
