You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while coping with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an performance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or shock, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
