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You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was preparing for her comeback record in eight years, ecstatically in love with her current love, and finally the mom to a little one after dealing with conception issues for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in March she was told she had cancer in her breast.

The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The album, her latest release, was intended as an open book, addressing every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometriosis, pregnancy loss, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, mental health struggles) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was released in April. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The cancer. Then second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while all the while living with breast cancer. Four weeks after she went public, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.

She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I respond, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.

Our interview takes place at a photography studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and large glasses. Think biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “It seems like I’m in the 70s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the picture. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. Cornish is fast-thinking, bold and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the crowd.”

Medical Challenges and Discovery

Cornish was getting ready for an appearance at the awards show when she noticed an abnormality. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘Yet I sense it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then Cornish had assured herself it was fine. The way she explains it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had so much on.

“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she goes, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have come back as malignant cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”

Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am

She viewed the procedure terrifying and absurd. “I dislike anesthesia. You’re escorted. During crises you are wheeled, but then I just marched with a gown on and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my affected breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”

The subsequent surgery is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she observes, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a hard period. Such disrespect! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. Illness changed that.”

A History of Health Challenges

She is no stranger to illness. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so upbeat because she’s familiar with physical challenges. 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 the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”

She reminisces to her youth, already making her debut performing in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was chosen at the age of nine). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I rehearsed between visits on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She skips forward six years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the Brit 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 was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Hey, I say, wait, I need a moment. At just 17? She nods|agrees