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You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, on top of the world. Then in spring she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The artist, actual name Jessica Cornish, is famous for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last recorded music (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, gaslighting, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later next release, her song Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with the disease. Four weeks after she shared the news, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She offers me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they inquire, ‘Any updates?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s yet to undergo cosmetic procedures.

We meet at a studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and big frames. Think biker chic meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She beams. She is sharp-witted, irreverent and blunt. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

She was preparing for an performance at the awards show when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it looked at, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. I have arm pain and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they replied, ‘How about a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was simply too inconvenient to receive a diagnosis 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 the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I log in believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘Please take a seat.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have indicated high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. What awful timing.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness

She considered the operation scary and bizarre. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a gown on and my bum hanging out. You feel like you’re in an episode of Black Mirror.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. No chemo, no radiotherapy, just the op. “It’s terrible, but you know what? I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”

The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. How rude! I felt, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. Such disrespect! Ironically I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”

Past Medical Issues

Cornish is familiar with health problems. She feels her outlook on her diagnosis has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to be complacent. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘You having a good time? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”

She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has entered the female band Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees