🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.

The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. 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 day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. 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 obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Past Medical Issues

She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in health crises. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”

She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards 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 stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”

Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees