Jewel Says Doctor Saved Her Life Before Music Fame

Singer Jewel says a doctor saved her life before she became famous.

In a 2023 interview that recently became popular again online, Jewel spoke about a difficult time in her late teens when she was homeless and living in her van in Southern California.

The singer said she became very sick and went to an emergency room, but staff did not treat her because she did not have health insurance.

“I almost died in an emergency room parking lot because they didn’t see me,” Jewel said during the PBS interview Tell Me More With Kelly Corrigan.

She explained that a doctor noticed what happened and came outside to help her. He gave her antibiotics and his business card.

“He saved my life,” Jewel said. Doctors later discovered she had sepsis, a serious infection that can become life-threatening.

At the time, Jewel was trying to support herself by performing at small coffeehouses after leaving her hometown of Homer, Alaska.

She also admitted she struggled financially and sometimes shoplifted. During one incident, she saw herself in a mirror while stealing a dress and realized her life needed to change.

“I’m going to end up in jail or dead,” she remembered thinking.

Jewel said she then began focusing on living in the present instead of worrying constantly about the future. She wrote down everything she did each day for two weeks to better understand her thoughts and behavior.

Looking back at her notes, she realized she had stopped having panic attacks during that time. She later understood that she had discovered a form of mindfulness.

Not long after, Jewel was discovered by Atlantic Records at age 19. In 1995, she released her first album, Pieces of You. The album included hit songs such as “Who Will Save Your Soul,” “Foolish Games,” and “You Were Meant for Me,” and sold millions of copies worldwide.