On Monday, March 20, singer-songwriter Jewel went on the "Verywell Mind" podcast where she claimed that her mother, Lenedra Carroll, had been robbing her for years without her knowledge.
"I didn’t really realize what my mom was until I was 30-something. I woke up and realized she embezzled all of my money, over $100 million," the Grammy-nominated musician said.
"And then as I started investigating the truth about what my mom had told me in my life versus what was true, I had realized that pretty much everything I formed my reality on was fiction," she added.
"[I was] 34 years old [when I] realized I’m $3 million in debt, realize my mom stole it, realize everything I thought my mom was, isn’t what she was, [it is a] very difficult psychological thing to come to terms with," the star continued, dishing about her family trauma.
She went on to describe her relationship with her mother before she learned of her alleged crimes, saying, "I mean, it’s a complex issue, but my mom used to [be] this heroic figure. My mom and dad got divorced when I was 8, and we went to live with my dad."
"Nobody told me it’s because my mom didn’t want to be a mom. She left us, and so my dad took over raising us. I didn’t know that at the time. I would hitchhike 500 miles to go see her. I’d show up on her doorstep," she continued.
"She was the opposite of my dad. My dad was this volatile alcoholic that hit me, very easy to identify [as a] 'bad guy.' My mom seemed like the opposite. She was calm, she was soft, she never yelled, obviously never hit me," the "Pieces of You" singer described about her tough childhood.
"I didn’t realize I was being abused in another way at the time. If you asked me when I was 9 to maybe even in my 30s, I would’ve thought I had a supportive figure," she added of the situation.
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The 48-year-old then recalled something her mother would always tell her, "'Your mind is so powerful. Our minds are only tap, we use like 10 percent of our brain power. Our minds are so powerful and I think you, Jewel, are so powerful that I think you could sit here and stare at this light bulb and you might be able to get it to turn off with your mind.'"
Jewel then recalled how she felt after hearing the quiote. "That is such an abusive, effed up thing to say, but I felt so loved. What it actually was was my mom didn’t want to stay there and be with me, and she babysat me by having me watch light bulbs. So, sometimes the appearance of an attached figure isn’t what it seems," she concluded.
