You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was found to have breast cancer.
The musician, actual name Jess Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, referencing the film. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was 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 the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be good, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my one side now appears as a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. 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. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or shock, to remind her not to assume everything is fine. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her youth, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and 17-year-old Jess has entered the girl group Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees
