You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with her cancer. A month later she shared the news, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, thinking of the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands 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 physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the West End in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
