You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment readying for her first album release in nearly a decade, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mother of a toddler after dealing with conception issues for ten years, on top of the world. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is famous for telling it as it is. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, miscarriage, unsuccessful partnerships, emotional abuse, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She grins. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she explains it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus 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 join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “Cancer is awful, but you know what? Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her boobs, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. Cancer ruined that plan.”
A History of Health Challenges
The singer is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her childhood, already beginning featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while attending the Brit School. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
