You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ 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 terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has entered the girl group the group while studying at the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
