You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have breast cancer.
The singer-songwriter, real name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was meant as an open book, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later follow-up track, Living My Best Life, debuted in May and the artist was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She gives me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the audience.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after a long hiatus and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I was, like, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ 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 hate being put under. They walk you down. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my backside 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. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She believes her attitude toward illness has been so positive because she’s experienced in physical challenges. They have often coincided with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
