‘It has pushed me to live more fully’: Jessica Cornish on her health battle, career returns and conquering the Chinese market

You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The artist, real name Jess Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an open book, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, her single No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m doing every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer 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 sporting a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was preparing for an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It seems benign; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was concerning she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be good, and she informs me, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have come back as aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened recently and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly 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.”

Past Medical Issues

The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward several years, and teenage Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees