You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers 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 inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a gown on and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my right breast now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s used to health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in a musical (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “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 young Jessica has become part of the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a year.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
