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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Suddenly in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The singer-songwriter, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The initial release, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while living with the disease. Subsequently she went public, and in early July she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in London. She is dressed in a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

She was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.

“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away 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 jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” Another grin. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! 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

Cornish 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 peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career starring in the London theater in the production (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees