Although a race-day sponsor reputedly took exception to the shoes she was wearing, Jessica says in the end it was a panic attack that stopped her from stepping on stage to sing the national anthem.
“It was the scariest moment ever,” she declared while promoting the launch of her new perfume Be Beautiful in Sydney.
“Four minutes before I am about to be walked out, people on one side are bickering with people on another side and it started to suffocate me.
“It was crazy and I didn’t know what to do. Time stopped and I could see it all going on around me…it was really horrible.”
Jessica says she didn’t have time to compose herself in the interim, leaving organisers no choice but to ask back-up singer Nadia Aya to save the day.
She says she can recall someone yelling about her shoes being the cause of the kerfuffle on the day. They supposedly weren’t a pair that sponsor Myer had in stock.
But Jessica, who loves running around the Outback in her barefeet, said she would have happily walked out on to that stage wearing thongs.
“But security probably would have tackled me. I would probably have been breaking some rule about open-toed shoes.”
Known for her professionalism under pressure, Jessica was understandably gutted she had to pull out.
“I know how to do big gigs. I’ve done Eurovision, sung in front of Oprah, sung in front of [Barack] Obama and sang the anthem at the NRL Grand Final. But I didn’t have a moment to pull myself together.”
“I would never intentionally let anyone down.”
The day before, Jessica performed for crowds at Hamish and Andy’s Race That Slows Down The Nation in Wedderburn, and earlier competed in the novelty event.
Dressed in a plush horse costume, she placed 21st out of 50, and was elated with her result in a video she shared of her running over the finish line.
“Ok WOW!!!!! sooo I DID IT!!!! I ran the race, the whole 800 metres and came 21st place out of 50 and rockin my awesome pony outfit!” she wrote in the caption.