You wouldn’t believe it, the singer states. There she was gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The album, the provocatively titled album, was intended as an candid account, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and the artist was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.
She shoots me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I’m, like, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, denim trousers with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and big frames. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, thinking of the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is quick, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I like entertaining. When performing I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they told me, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I insisted, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I get up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d reach out on the Monday. By then the singer had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had a busy schedule.
“Just two weeks before from releasing the album after years away and an extended break. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but yet Luckily it was detected early. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is for health and appearance. Her breasts, she notes, 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. So rude! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is no stranger to illness. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s used to physical challenges. They have often coincided with career highs, functioning as a wake-up call, or blow, to make her recall not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She recalls to her 11-year-old self, already beginning featuring in the stage in a musical (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead six years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the girl group Soul Deep while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a stroke. Then when I was about to put out music in recently I had a car crash and my voice box shifted and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Hey, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
