Jewel's net worth has definitely expanded throughout the years, but she wasn't as lucky during her childhood.
The 41-year-old opened up about her homeless past in an all-new interview, revealing that she nearly died after a hospital refused to treat her because she didn’t have any health insurance.
“I almost died in an emergency room because they didn’t see me because I didn’t have [health] insurance,” she told Today.com. “Thankfully, a doctor had seen me get turned away. I was dying of lead poisoning and he gave me some antibiotics and saved my life.”
However, her hardships didn’t end there. “But then, the car I was living in got stolen,” she continued. “And when you don’t have a physical address, much less of an education, it’s very, very difficult to get a job and break that poverty cycle.”
Jewel has been very open about her hardships in the earlier part of her career, including the tussle with her boss that left her jobless and homeless after she refused to sleep with him.
“For me, the hardest thing was being treated as if I was sub-human — as if I didn’t matter,” she said before she earned her big break. “I remember washing my hair at a bathroom sink in a Denny’s, and I was using the hand towels to dry my hair. And people looked at me like I was absolutely disgusting. I wanted to yell at them and say, ‘I’m human! I may not have a house, but I matter!’”
Jewel’s breakthrough debut album, Pieces Of You, was the result of her tough Alaskan life, and the album’s success lifted Jewel's net worth and helped her out of poverty.
Over the years, Jewel has released 12 studio albums which have sold more than 30 million copies world wide that skyrocketed Jewel's net worth.
Her upcoming album, 'Picking Up the Pieces,' which she likens to “having a conversation with [her] 18-year-old self,” will include some songs that she wrote during those difficult moments.
Her family stars on the popular Discovery Channel reality television series "Alaska: The Last Frontier" that added to Jewel's net worth.
Currently, Jewel's net worth is $30 million according to Celebrity Net Worth.
