You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. 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 ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while at the same time coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, cream boots and big frames. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I basically roast the fans.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
Cornish was planning an performance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they said, ‘It seems benign; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from launching this thing after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I regret to inform you but your biopsy results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my rear exposed. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my affected breast now resembles a odd shape.” She smiles again. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, 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 perfectionism, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ Since childhood, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career featuring in the stage in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
