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You couldn’t make it up, the singer remarks. At that moment preparing for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Suddenly in spring she was found to have breast cancer.

The musician, actual name Jessica Cornish, is known for being brutally honest. The LP, her latest release, was supposed to be an transparent story, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d faced since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, gaslighting, mental health struggles) with her usual frankness. The lead track, the song No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she went public, and in early July she had a mastectomy.

She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every interview, and they ask, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I like entertaining. On stage I often tease the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

Cornish was getting ready for an performance at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then she had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had a busy schedule.

“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. That’s not fucking great timing.’ The first thing I 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 viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. During crises you roll down in a bed, but then I just strolled down with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy a few months back and my right breast now looks like a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “uneven. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a rough time. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already beginning starring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was told about the heart condition a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward half a dozen years, and young Jessica has entered the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit School. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a brain incident. Then when I was planning to release songs in the year 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a year.”

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