You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in eight years, deeply enamored with her newish partner, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was thriving, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. She is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I like entertaining. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a gown on and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal recently and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has entered the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
