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You can’t imagine it, the singer remarks. There she was readying for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her newish partner, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The singer-songwriter, real name Jessica Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, the provocatively titled album, was supposed to be an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last made an album (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The first single, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was thriving, while at the same time living with breast cancer. Subsequently she went public, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in the capital. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture motorcycle style meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was getting ready for an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an test, and they said, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the following my birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d reach out on the start of the week. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to face illness when she had so much on.

“Just two weeks before from launching this thing after eight years without an album and an extended break. And she contacted me and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. That’s not fucking great timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you go on a gurney, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “At least the nipple remains.”

The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. The size doesn’t match. So inconsiderate! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Illness changed that.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with health crises. Frequently they align with career highs, acting as a reminder, or shock, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”

She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue 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 IV drip, and going back into hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and young Jessica has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was ready to debut in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. At just 17? She nods|agrees