You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. There she was gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, birth name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with ornate white designs, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. During performances I often tease the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was planning an performance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. 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 perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her perspective on the cancer 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 assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning starring in the stage in the production (she was selected at the age of 9). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the female band the group while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I couldn’t sing for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
