You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while all the while living with the disease. A month later she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Imagine biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ My initial 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 considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the trio the group while studying at the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
