You couldn’t make it up, the singer says. There she was preparing for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was found to have cancer in her breast.
The musician, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, addressing every moment of pain she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. Her diagnosis. Then second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in late spring and Cornish was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while still secretly dealing with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in early July she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘Any updates?’ and I answer, ‘Uh, nothing really’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.
We meet at a photo studio in London. She is wearing a beige fake-leather jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, off-white boots and big frames. Think 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, recalling the picture. “They used to call me that!” She beams. Cornish is sharp-witted, irreverent and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I often tease the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
She was planning an slot at the Baftas when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an scan, and they told me, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and pins and needles in my hands whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ It happened on March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The physician told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and an extended break. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I was, like, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call thinking it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your reports have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She considered the operation terrifying and absurd. “I hate being put under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been blessed. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Thank fuck I found it early. The surgery happened recently and my right breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The next operation is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “uneven. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I felt, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. Cancer ruined that plan.”
Previous Struggles
She is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with peak moments, acting as a reminder, or blow, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ From a young age, it has often paired with moments of success for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the stage in the production (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the academy. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I lost my voice for a long period.”
Hey, I say, slow down, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
