Singer-songwriter Jewel has opened up about one of the toughest chapters of her life. She revealed how she developed a shoplifting addiction while she was homeless and struggling with severe anxiety.
Speaking on the No Magic Pill podcast, the Foolish Games hitmaker reflected on her difficult childhood and the challenges that followed as she tried to navigate life on her own.
Jewel shared that her life changed dramatically when her mother left the family when she was eight years old. She said things became even harder after moving back to her father’s hometown, where she experienced what she described as a difficult and unstable environment.
Despite growing up around addiction, Jewel said she made an early decision to stay away from drugs and alcohol.
“I made a promise really young not to do drugs or drink,” the star said. “Again, I think just cuz I had such an extreme front row seat to seeing what it did. It didn’t look glamorous, you know; it didn’t look sexy. And some deep, deep part of me knew to be deadly terrified of it.”
By the time she was 15, Jewel was living independently. A few years later, she moved to San Diego to help care for her mother. But financial struggles soon piled up, and she eventually found herself living in her car after work opportunities fell through.
As her situation worsened, so did her mental health. “My panic attacks were getting worse. My agoraphobia was getting worse,” she recalled. “I didn’t have food. I didn’t have water. I didn’t have … anything. I didn’t have gas for the car.”
Jewel admitted that desperation eventually led her to start stealing food and other items. “I started stealing food and stealing, like, herbs and things like that to try and … I had bad kidneys,” she said.
What began as a survival tactic slowly became something she could no longer control. “I think, you know, stealing for me really became a real addiction,” she explained. “It was compulsive. I couldn’t control it.”
The turning point came when she caught sight of herself in a changing-room mirror while trying to hide a stolen dress. “I saw my reflection in the mirror and … I was a statistic,” she said. “I’m a homeless kid shoplifting, and I’m going to end up in jail or dead if this keeps going.”
That moment pushed her to make major changes. Jewel said she began focusing on being present in the moment, even tracking simple daily actions in a journal. Over time, the practice helped reduce her anxiety and shift her mindset.
Looking back, the Grammy-nominated artist believes one lesson changed everything. “I realised that fear is a thief, and it robs you of the only opportunity you have to change your life,” she concluded.