You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, addressing every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then follow-up track, Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with the disease. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and large glasses. Imagine rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an slot at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘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 concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group 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 the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees
