You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her new album launch in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, losing a baby, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in the capital. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the 1970s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the movie. “They used to call me that!” She grins. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and filter-free. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had convinced herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to receive a diagnosis when she had so much on.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now resembles a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. So rude! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
Cornish is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already starting her career starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, hold on, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
