Jewel has been a longtime champion of putting her mental health first over her career. “When I moved out at 15, I knew I had to learn about happiness and I pursued it,” the singer exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting mental health resources through her Not Alone Challenge . “And when I was homeless, the same thing.
I was having panic attacks, [I was] agoraphobic.” Jewel admitted that she began turning to music to cope with her struggles. It wasn’t her intention to become a huge star.
“When I was discovered, my No. 1 goal wasn’t to be a musician,” she reflected. “It was to make sure that I could learn how to be, I called it a happy, whole human instead of a human full of holes.
” After becoming a breakout star, Jewel confessed that she “always” put her “career second” to focus on her wellbeing. “After [second album] Spirit and my hit [song] ‘Hands,’ I quit for two years because I just couldn’t handle it. I never wanted my mental health to be the price I paid for my career,” Jewel told Us .
“And as we’re seeing with so many celebrities and artists, we’re losing too many people. This job is a difficult job, but so many jobs are, we have a lot of pressure that we’re dealing with in the world.” Jewel shared that she believes that “happiness is a side effect of choices” which led her to make changes to create a “better environment” to help her thrive.
The artist acknowledged that the business aspect of the music industry .