🔗 Share this article

You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jess Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly living with her cancer. A month later she went public, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, off-white boots and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her standup debut next year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in expecting it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but you know what? 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.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees