Jewel said men have preyed on her since she was a little girl, but she insisted she never slept her way to the top.
During the promotional tour of her 12th studio album, 'Picking Up The Pieces,' and her forthcoming memoir, 'Never Broken: Songs Are Only Half the Story,' Jewel revealed that she had to endure sexual harassment since she was eight years old.
"I've had men hitting on me, sadly, since I was really young," Jewel admitted to the The Hollywood Reporter. "At 8, I had men putting dimes in my hands saying, 'Call me. It'd be so great to f--- when you're older.' And just horrible stuff."
The harassment only worsened while she was trying to make a name for herself in the music industry. Jewel recalls that difficult time, when she was just starting her career and she played at the San Diego bars and coffee shop, she was fired by her boss for refusing to have sex with him. She had to live out of her car, when she could no longer afford to pay for her rent. To make matters worst, her car was stolen after sometime.
Being vulnerable at that stage, Jewel remembers men trying to take advantage of her situation. She said that she had been prepositioned by different men countless of times but she refused their offers. She said they were like sharks, smelling the blood of their prey. Men can smell a woman's vulnerability and they like to take advantage of the situation.
Jewel- who has sold 27 million albums worldwide, said that her experience helped her prepare for the way she'd be treated as a talented woman in the music industry.
"In the music business, it ended up serving me very well. I learned to keep my energy to myself, where there's nothing about me that seemed approachable," she said.
The Grammy nominated singer and songwriter described the music industry as a male dominated business but she insisted that she never slept her way to the top. "And I think that type of spirit that you bring just informs everybody that's around you. You know, I've heard plenty of stories that the opposite happens . . . I saw what women would give up for a compliment. I felt men were willing to take advantage if they saw something vulnerable," she said.
