You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was preparing 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 ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with ornate white designs, off-white boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “I feel like 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. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an slot at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm 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 following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after years away and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just walked with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Past Medical Issues
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in a musical (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, slow down, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
