You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, actual name Jess Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was preparing for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had convinced herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my rear exposed. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy recently and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a twelve months.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
