You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in eight years, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jess Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time dealing with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, bold and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her initial standup show in the coming year. “I like entertaining. During performances I basically roast the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an test, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The subsequent surgery is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I can’t keep up. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
