Before she signed a record deal in 1993, the struggling singer lived in her van and couldn’t afford health insurance.

Jewel recalls kind doctor saving her life when she was homeless in resurfaced interview

Before she signed a record deal in 1993, the struggling singer lived in her van and couldn't afford health insurance.

By Kathleen Perricone

May 5, 2026 10:39 p.m. ET

Leave a Comment

Jewel performing in 2024. Credit:

Amy E. Price/Getty

- Jewel recalls the time a doctor saved her life when she was deathly ill and homeless during her early years as a struggling artist.

- The Alaskan native relocated to Southern California, where she lived in her van while playing small gigs.

- She also admitted to shoplifting during that time and realizing, "I'm going to end up in jail or dead."

Not long before Jewel went platinum with her debut single, "Who Will Save Your Soul," someone saved hers.

The singer opened up about her early years as a struggling artist, when she was homeless, living out of her van — and, unbeknownst to her, deathly ill — in a resurfaced interview on the PBS series, *Tell Me More With Kelly Corrigan*.

"I almost died in an emergency room parking lot because they didn't see me because I didn't have insurance," explained Jewel, now 51. "Luckily, a doctor had seen me get turned away and he went out and he knocked on my door and he handed me antibiotics and his [business] card."

"He saved my life," she revealed. "It turned out I had sepsis." What followed was "the most transformative time in my life."

At the time, Jewel was still a teenager and struggling to provide for herself after leaving Homer, Alaska., to travel around Southern California playing small gigs at coffeehouses.

Jewel addresses fans who 'feel betrayed' by her RFK Jr. performance

Jewel says she 'went gray overnight' after harrowing stalker experience

"I was shoplifting a lot," she confessed in the 2023 interview, which recently resurfaced on social media thanks to *Brief But Spectacular*.

In one incident as she stole a dress, she caught the reflection of herself in a mirror and realized if something didn't change, "I'm going to end up in jail or dead."

Rick Meyer/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Inspired by a quote about how individual happiness is dependent on how one thinks, Jewel decided that instead of worrying about things "that didn't happen yet," she would focus solely on the present.

Following the idea that "your hands are the servants of your thought," she wrote down every single thing her hands did for two weeks. "And then [maybe] I'll figure out what I'm thinking."

Jewel on 'The Tonight Show With Jay Leno' in 1996.

Margaret C. Norton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

When she went back and read her "thoughts" over that time, she realized she didn't have a panic attack once. "What I had stumbled on is what you now call 'mindfulness,'" she told Corrigan.

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our ******EW Dispatch newsletter******.***

Not long after, Jewel was discovered by Atlantic Records at the age of 19. In 1995, she released her debut album, *Pieces of You*, which spawned hit singles "Foolish Games" and "You Were Meant for Me" and sold 12 million copies worldwide.

- Celebrities & Creators

- Celebrity Health

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Celebrity”