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Jewel is opening up about her off-the-grid upbringing.
In a recent interview with Fox News Digital at the Breakthrough Awards, the 51-year-old singer described what it was like growing up in Alaska.
“My lifestyle was just subsistence living, no electricity, no running water,” she explained. “We had an outhouse, lots of creativity.”
She went on to say that this upbringing is what has “always kept me grounded.“
Jewel reflected on her off-the-grid upbringing, saying it helped her stay grounded. (Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
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The Breakthrough Awards celebrates the research achievements of the world’s top scientists, with more than $15 million being awarded to scientists in different fields, including Life Sciences, Fundamental Physics, and Mathematics, with each prize being worth $3 million.
The singer has spoken about her rough childhood in the past, telling PBS in July 2023 that she “didn’t know what a gift it was to have been raised how I was raised,” but looking back, she realizes that her upbringing gave her “a resourcefulness, a reliance, a sort of natural trust in my own ability,” to apply herself and figure it out.
WATCH HERE: JEWEL DETAILS WHAT HER OFF-THE-GRID CHILDHOOD IN ALASKA WAS LIKE
“The land demands things of you, and Alaska demands things of you,” she said. “And you either find a way to survive and live or you perish. And so it’s very clear, it’s very practical, it’s very pragmatic. And so I was raised by a very practical, pragmatic culture and family that also had a very philosophical bent.”
She explained that the combination of her family life and living in nature “really served me,” noting there were no gender roles in her family and that “whatever needed to be done, you did. And you were expected to figure it out no matter what. You just had to figure it out.”
Jewel explained that there were no gender roles in her family. (Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Fashion Trust US)
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Jewel ended up moving out of her home when she was 15 years old, in order to escape her abusive father, eventually ending up homeless at 18.
She opened up about this time in her life in an Op-Ed published on Teen Vogue in May 2023, while encouraging young readers to “make your happiness your number one ambition” and invest in their mental health, adding, “your life will be better.”
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“Fame does not make happiness. Nor does money—I have seen all sides of both. I was raised on an Alaskan homestead with no running water. I moved out at age fifteen to get away from my father. I became homeless when I was eighteen after a boss withheld my paycheck because I would not have sex with him,” she wrote.
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“I was a trauma survivor, though I wasn’t aware of the term then; I was even less aware of Mental Health Awareness, which today we acknowledge during the month of May,” she continued. “I suffered from panic attacks, anxiety and agoraphobia, and had a nasty shoplifting habit.”
Jewel encouraged young adults to invest in their happiness and mental health. (Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Eventually, knowing her future could include landing herself “in jail or worse if I did not get serious” about where she was in life, Jewel decided “to learn how to be happy.”
Jewel went on to breakthrough into the music industry with her debut album, “Pieces of You,” which was released in 1995, but became a smash hit in 1997, when she was 23 years old.
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The album featured hit singles “Who Will Save Your Soul” and “You Were Meant For Me.” She went on to receive four Grammy Award nominations throughout her career and won an American Music Award.
When speaking with AARP in August 2024, Jewel shared that despite all the negative things she’s experienced, she chooses to look on the bright side of life.
Jewel wants to focus on the positive in life. (Duane Prokop/Getty Images)
“I want my life to be my best work of art. I want to try to live thoughtfully and intentionally and sculpt my humanity into something that will please me at the end of my life,” she said.
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