Singer and songwriter Jewel recently revealed on a podcast that her mother had “embezzled” over $100 million from the artist, putting her millions of dollars in debt, according to Fox News.
On a recent episode of the “Verywell Mind Podcast,” which focuses on mental health, Jewel explained that her mother, who was also her manager, stole her money without her knowledge until years into her career.
“I didn’t really realize what my mom was until I was 30-something. I woke up and realized she embezzled all of my money, over $100 million,” Jewel said.
“Thirty-four years old, realize I’m $3 million in debt, realize my mom stole it, realize everything I thought my mom was, isn’t what she was, very difficult psychological thing to come to terms with,” she added.
The singer’s debut album was released in 1995, when she was just 20 years old. With three more albums before the age of 30, the majority of Jewel’s record sales came from this time period, when she amassed a gold record, a platinum record, a multi-platinum record, and a diamond-selling record with her aforementioned debut album.
Jewel reflected on her mother, her parents’ relationship, and the abuse she suffered as a child on the same show.
“My mom and dad got divorced when I was 8, and we went to live with my dad. Nobody told me it’s because my mom didn’t want to be a mom. She left us, and so my dad took over raising us. I didn’t know that at the time,” Jewel said.
The singer further explained that when she went to live with her father, he became abusive and was an alcoholic.
“My dad was this volatile alcoholic that hit me, very easy to identify ‘bad guy.’ My mom seemed like the opposite. She was calm, she was soft, she never yelled, obviously never hit me. And I didn’t realize I was being abused in another way at the time,” she explained.
In a 2016 book called “Never Broken,” the artist explained in detail that her mother controlled her finances, leading her into debt and stealing the money she made from her massive commercial success.
Jewel eventually created a non-profit to focus on youth mental health in the early 2000s and in 2023 launched a mental health app called “Innerworld,” aimed at providing an anonymous interactive environment for people to discuss mental health issues.
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