‘It has taught me to embrace life more’: Jessica Cornish on cancer, career returns and cracking China

You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in March she was told she had breast cancer.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

The artist was preparing for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after years away and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have indicated malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now resembles a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. So rude! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s experienced in health crises. They have often coincided with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has often paired with achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in the production (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as vertigo and heart flutters. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees