Jewel candidly recalled her terrifying days being homeless and shoplifting before she made it as a pop star.
“There have been days where I was homeless for a year, when I was 18 and absolutely terrified,” she said, “having panic attacks, shoplifting … days I thought I would just pass out. I have passed out from panic attacks actually, but I kept standing up.”
The singer opened up at a virtual town hall — hosted by public media station WETA in DC and the National Alliance on Mental Illness — to launch a campaign called Well Beings.
The “Who Will Save Your Soul” singer shared, “Feelings and thoughts are like the weather … My tremendous anxiety, my panic attacks — not every thought and feeling is a fact. Just because it’s happening in my brain doesn’t mean it’s the truth … Learning to let it pass through my brain like the weather is a skill that really served me well.”
Matthew McConaughey, Kid Cudi, Billy Porter, Demi Moore and Alanis Morissette provided video messages for the town hall. Ken Burns is executive producing a film as part of the Well Beings initiative.