You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then second single, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and the artist was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. She is quick, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘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 call on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut featuring 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 WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
