You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mother of a toddler after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The artist, birth name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every moment of pain she’d faced since she last made an album (a gynecological condition, pregnancy loss, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with typical candour. The initial release, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and she was talking to press about how she was thriving, while all the while coping with her cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in July she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her first comedy performance soon. “I enjoy humor. When performing I basically roast the crowd.”
Personal Battles and News
Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just walked with a medical attire and my rear exposed. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I underwent removal four months ago and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she observes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
The singer is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Truly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her youth, already starting her career starring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the girl group the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a automobile accident and my voice box shifted and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
