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You couldn’t make it up, the singer states. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in eight years, deeply enamored with her current love, and at long last the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.

The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for being brutally honest. The album, her latest release, was meant as an open book, tackling every moment of pain she’d endured since she last recorded music (endometrial issues, miscarriage, broken romances, psychological manipulation, suicide) with characteristic openness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was dropped in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. Her diagnosis. Then next release, her song Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in July she underwent breast removal surgery.

She offers me her best “Are you kidding?” look. “I come out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I’m, like, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in the capital. She is sporting a tan faux-leather coat, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine motorcycle style meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a partner with a mustache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is fast-thinking, unfiltered and blunt. She says she has always been interested in humor and is planning to attempt her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Personal Battles and News

She was getting ready for an slot at the Baftas when she found a lump. “I immediately went to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. My arm hurts and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.

“We’re two weeks away from debuting the project after a long hiatus and four years without a single. And the doctor messaged and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ That sympathetic voice? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown aggressive cancer.’” What was your reaction? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ My initial 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 frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but this time I just strolled down with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been lucky. Without chemo or radio, just the procedure. “Cancer sucks, man, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my one side now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be perfect. Cancer ruined that plan.”

Previous Struggles

Cornish is no stranger to illness. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Take a seat.’ Since childhood, it has often paired with achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has impacted my body.”

She takes me back to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was selected at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the cardiac issue a syndrome, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as dizziness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an drip, and being readmitted at night.” She jumps ahead half a dozen years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band Soul Deep while attending the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a stroke. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”

Oi, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees