You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is quick, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away 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 join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Past Medical Issues
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and young Jessica has become part of the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a collision and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
