Taylor Swift's touring family is a collective of resilient souls, and Jeslyn Gorman knows this all too well. As a backup singer who joined Taylor's team during the 2018 Reputation tour, she has a unique perspective on the ups and downs of life on the road, particularly when she was diagnosed with breast cancer amidst the Eras Tour.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer," she shares in episode three of the Eras Tour: The End of an Era docuseries, released on December 19th. "When I let Taylor know, she came storming in with hugs and tears, saying, 'I'm so sorry.'"
The support from Taylor and her mother Andrea Swift was overwhelming. Andrea told Jeslyn, "You just take care of you, and we'll be here when you're ready."
Despite the diagnosis, Jeslyn tried to continue performing as usual. "Obviously, it was devastating, but every weekend, we had a show," she recalls. "I still flew to the next city, did a show with everyone. In the middle of the week when we weren't doing shows, I would fly back to L.A. for biopsies and treatment, then hop back on stage and pretend like nothing was happening."
Ultimately, Jeslyn decided to step back from the tour for six months to focus on her health. "I had to take off and go through chemo, surgery," she shares. "I had edema. I had skin issues. I usually have all this curly hair. I lost about 75 percent of my hair. I felt and looked completely different, and just kind of watched my friends on live streams of the show."
Once Jeslyn officially rang the chemo bell after completing her cancer treatment, she worked diligently to get back into shape. Just a few months after being diagnosed, she was back on stage, and Taylor was in awe at her determination.
"I cannot believe that she was back in a few months," Taylor admits. "The will to come back and do the hardest show ever. None of us could believe it. I still can't."
Looking back on that moment when Jeslyn shared her diagnosis, it was a shock to the entire crew. "We've been singing together for a couple of years, and when Jeslyn got sick, it was the first blow that the tour family experienced emotionally," Taylor says. "It was like, completely unfathomable to us."
"I'll never forget when she told us," Taylor adds. "Everyone was just in shambles, and it's the not knowing. But we all wanted Jeslyn to know that no matter what, under any circumstances, if she wanted to come back, she could."
