You can’t imagine it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a studio in the capital. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and big frames. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she notes, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the West End in the production (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
