Inside Jewel Kilcher’s troubled past: Abusive dad, estranged mom and a traumatic childhood in poverty
PAYSON, UTAH: Jewel Kilcher has spoken out about the abuse she endured from her parents as a child and how it affected her well into adulthood. The 48-year-old singer, whose tour bus caught fire in August, spoke with licensed therapist Amy Morin in an interview for the 'Verywell Mind' podcast on her path to better mental health.
Jewel Kilcher was born in Payson, Utah, in 1974. She is a singer-songwriter and actor, best known for her roles in 'Ride with the Devil' (1999), 'Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story' (2007), and 'Clueless' (1995). Ty Murray was her former husband, as per IMDb.
READ MORE
Jewel Kilcher's troubled childhood
Soon after Jewel's birth, her parents, Atz Carroll, 75—a celebrity on the reality series 'Alaska: The Last Frontier'—and Lenedra Carroll, 67—moved her and her older brother, Shane, to Alaska, where they lived on a large homestead without plumbing or electricity. "My mom and dad got divorced when I was eight, and we went to live with my dad," she said. "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 continued.
"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, and obviously never hit me. And I didn't realize I was being abused in another way at the time," she claimed. Jewel stated that when she went to her mother for help, the woman would do it covertly, ignoring Jewel, as per Daily Mail.
The singer of 'Who Will Save Your Soul' reflected on those experiences and said that they made her 'feel loved' at the time. She didn't realize what had truly happened until much later: "What it actually was was my mom didn't want to stay there and be with me, and she babysat me by having me watch light bulbs. So sometimes the appearance of an attached figure isn't what it seems," Jewel added.
Jewel Kilcher's career trajectory
The singer of 'You Were Meant for Me' started out as a performer at a young age. To make money, she and her father would sing and yodel in roadhouses and bars. Jewel was able to escape the bars owing to her talent. She received a portion of a scholarship to the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan to study operatic voice. Homer, her hometown, came together and held an auction to raise the remaining amounts.
She went to San Diego after graduating and learned guitar while attending music school. She performed and wrote music there while living in a van. She worked as a phone operator at a computer firm and a coffee shop to pay the bills up until she was discovered. 'Pieces of You,' her self-released debut album, achieved meteoric success and was certified 12 times platinum. 'Spirit,' the artist's second album of songs, began third on the Billboard 200, although it did not go on to enjoy similar success as 'Pieces of Me.'
34 years old with $3 million in debt
The singer's mother was connected sufficiently to have access to her money. "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 confessed. "34 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," the singer added.
In the early 2000s, Jewel contributed to the foundation of the nonprofit Inspiring Children, which now hosts 'Jewel Never Broken,' the singer's free in-person and online mental health programs. The curriculum features self-taught survival skills the artist developed to combat depression and anxiety. Jewel frequently discusses the value of mental health on her personal social media account as well as on the Inspiring Children and Never Broken pages.
Recently, "Innerworld", a new mental health app, was launched by the MTV Music Award winner. The free platform provides 100 weekly events as well as peer-to-peer support groups in a virtual environment where users can communicate as avatars.