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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was preparing for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have cancer in her breast.

The artist, real name Jessica Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, losing a baby, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was dropped in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.

We meet at a studio in London. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets vintage look. “It seems like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance in the coming year. “I like entertaining. When performing I basically roast the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

The artist was planning an appearance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an ultrasound, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I jump on the Zoom expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she reveals, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your reports have shown aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She found the surgery frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. You know when you have emergency surgery you are wheeled, but this time I just marched with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. The surgery happened a few months back and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “At least the nipple remains.”

The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s used to physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and teenage Jess has become part of the girl group the group while attending the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in 2020 I had a collision and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a year.”

Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees