You can’t imagine it, the singer says. At that moment readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for follow-up surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if 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 beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. When performing I often tease the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I 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 hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but then I just walked with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal recently and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen 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 palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
