You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after struggling to conceive for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with the disease. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” 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 frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
