You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The record, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d call on the start of the week. By then the singer had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from releasing the album after years away and no new music. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in thinking it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery scary and bizarre. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her chest, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s familiar with health crises. Many times they occur alongside peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has happened to my health.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already starting her career featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the medical problem a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
