Jewel reveals her mother embezzled upwards of $100 million from her

I don't normally listen to the Joe Rogan show, but I made an exception when I saw Jewel was on there. The real jaw-dropper was the story she told about her mom. I'd read before that she and her mother did not have a relationship, and that she had taken money from her, but I didn't know she'd taken *that* kind of money (or that she was a malignant narcissist). The story is insane.

Did she eat Faberge eggs or something?

Never trust a woman who lived in a van with money.

Never trust a woman who goes on the Joe Rogan Show.

R2 Jewel actually lived with her mom in San Diego for a time before they both ended up homeless. Her mom had rented a large house there that she couldn't afford, and Jewel was helping make ends meet. Then they both ended up in their cars, after which her mom returned to Alaska (she reveals all of this in the interview).

Her mom had left their family when Jewel was a child, and essentially preyed upon her daughter's desire to have a mother in her life. The story is fucked up and her mom seems to be a manipulative sociopath.

R1 she bought a bunch of properties it seems. When Jewel found out she was $3 million in debt, her mom refused to sell them to recoup the cash

So what's the short of it? Jewel is a moron who left her sketchy mother in charge of her finances?

I don't understand how these celebrities think that family members (ones who have been flat broke) would be good at managing millions of dollars. Yes, buy your mom a house and pay her bills. But don't give her power of attorney over all your bank accounts. Geez, Jewel, wise up.

Give her car fare, a ham at Easter, but for god's sakes, don't hang around with her!

R4, that's sad.

I don't think she's the best songwriter or poet, but I actually like Jewel -- I saw her perform at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago, and I didn't really know what to expect, but she was very good live.

If you can't trust family, who can you trust?

Jewel never had one hundred million dollars to embezzle

[quote] If you can't trust family, who can you trust?

It's more than just an issue of trust, it's competence. Who said Mom (who was living in a van) is the go-to person for financial handling matters?

R11 she certainly did—maybe not all at once, but she accrued it over time. Her debut album is one of the highest-selling debut records of all time and went 12-times Platinum in the US. She was raking it in for the latter half of the '90s and into the early 2000s. According to Jewel, the embezzlement by her mother occurred by degrees over about a 10-year period.

How the fuck did a middling talent like Jewel, who had one hit song, end up with $100 million ?????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

R14, she had more than one hit song. She also hit the radio at just the right time -- when Lilith Fair/female singer-songwriters were all the rage, and just before the Britneyfication of pop music.

At first I was thinking "Jewel has $100 million to embezzle?"

But, yeah, Jewel really was THAT big.

I caught some of Jewel’s June Carter biopic on Lifetime. She looked utterly stunning.

My god, Jewel was NEVER that big. She had a sad little career. She kept changing styles in hopes she could catch on. She never really did.

She was everywhere in the mid/late 90s r18. Her first 2 albums sold 12 and 4 million copies respectively.

I don't know.

Pieces of You alone sold 12 million in the US and she had follow up platinum albums - even if they weren't close to her debut. She's sold 30 million albums worldwide. Plus she was a big name who could make big bucks touring - even after album sales dropped later.

Maybe it's somewhat surprising, but on the other hand I can see her having that sort of wealth.

Stop. Jewel never had that kind of money. Factoring the IRS, Management, Angent, publicity and all such Shit she'd have had to gross over 400 mil to net 100. She never had the longevity to earn that much.

She must have been bug because Stern built up her appearance on his show like crazy. I saw her appear on European TV around then as we!l. She was big.

R21 She sold all 26 million CDs out of the back of her van so she didn't have to pay all those other people.

She never had $100 million dollars, not overnight, not over twenty years. She has not earned that much in her career. And if she has, what did her mother do with it? It’s not easy to piss away $100 million on things that have no recoupable value.

that is utter BS. Maybe 20 million. Or maybe the millions of dollars invested made money and the cunt of a mother took it.

For reference, Britney Spears is rumored to be worth $60 million today.

If she was a shrews investor maybe - over a couple of decades. Private engagements for big money?

Interesting question - could Jewel possibly have $100 million dollars over her career?

Jewel had 100 million, and Kylie Jenner has 2 billion. And Gloria Vanderbilt secretly left Anderson 10 billion? Any my cock is 9 fat inches and I'm 58 but look early 40s.

maybe it's just 10 million and she added a zero

R27 she frankly seems like a shrewd businessperson to me. Her artistic talents aside, when you watch or listen to interviews with her, she does seem very analytical and business-minded, which is weird for an artist. It's possible that she made wise investments and was smart with her money, but her downfall was letting her mom become involved. She says in the interview that she turned down a $1 million advance from the record company (when she was living in her car, mind you) because she knew it was essentially into a loan that she'd have to repay if her record underperformed. She instead took a backend, which was less of a risk. It seems unbelievable, but perhaps she always had some financial literacy.

I'm remember sitting on the swings at lunch in 5th grade, singing an acapella version of "Hands" with my weird friend.

The most shocking thing about this story is that Jewel was worth $100 million. Jewel was never super popular, she didn't even have a string of hit records.

Unless she knew how to invest and her money grew, OK, she could have had that much $$$. On the other hand, if she was savvy with her money, then explain how her mom robbed her?

Where big money is concerned, never trust a family member, even a parent.

Jewel came out at a time when people actually bought CDs (albums). She did have a few very popular songs (You Were Meant for Me). $100 million does sound like a lot, though.

"Jewel was never super popular, she didn't even have a string of hit records."

I'm not saying she has $100 million or not, but this is just wrong.

She was MEGA popular upon release of her debut album. And three platinum albums in a row - 12 million, 4 million, 1 million sure sounds like a string of hit records to me -even if it's trending downward.

I'm doubtful about the $100 million as well, but she was a solo artist so didn't have to split money equally with other band members. Plus she was her own primary songwriter - so more money for that, plus publishing maybe.

Yes, she was a songwriter, so made royalties.

I love the people who are insistent she could have never had $100 million. Those same people rarely use numbers to make their points.

Jewel had endorsement deals with Revlon or L'Oreal or something. She might have made $20-30 mil per year off of those for more than 1 year. The money on these endorsement deals is wild.

I have no idea about her music contracts but the deals in her time were massive. Mariah got a $100 million deal and when Glitter bombed (and didn't sell soundtrack albums) they paid $30 million to get rid of her and buy out her contract.

R37 makes good points. I was skeptical of $100 million but didn't think it was out of the realm of possibility. And I was just thinking from a purely musical standpoint. I totally forgot about her endorsement deals - which was big money.

Any woman knows how to breed. But not every woman knows how to be a good mother.

Why would anybody listen to Joe Rogan?

She refused to be one of Tony Hsieh's enablers, she's a good person.

In addition to the huge album sales, her songs include two #2 smashes that both went platinum and were everywhere on radio for years.

My question is what happened to the money? Did her Mom buy real estate in Venezuela?

[quote]I love the people who are insistent she could have never had $100 million. Those same people rarely use numbers to make their points. Jewel had endorsement deals with Revlon or L'Oreal or something. She might have made $20-30 mil per year off of those for more than 1 year. The money on these endorsement deals is wild. I have no idea about her music contracts but the deals in her time were massive. Mariah got a $100 million deal and when Glitter bombed (and didn't sell soundtrack albums) they paid $30 million to get rid of her and buy out her contract.

I don't need numbers to make my points. Celebrities don't get to keep all their millions. Celebs have tons of people on their payroll, they have a management team, publicists and even a stylist on retainer. If they have a touring band, those musicians have to be paid. Lots of celebs move into houses they cannot afford, all in the name of maintaining an 'image'.

If you are going to talk about "numbers", then why not mention a celebrity's enormous overhead to maintain their lifestyle and image. Freebies? Not everything they wear is a freebie.

Do you know how Sting maintains his lifestyle and his 7-8 homes, besides the money he earns as a famous musician, he runs a successful wine, olive oil, and other types of food business, out of his Tuscany estate. He hasn't had a hit record in years. Of course, his back catalog, as well as The Police catalog. still sells and he tours at least once a year. He is also supporting most of his six adult children.

I know people who work in showbiz, a British actor who has become popular in the US over the past few years was close to being bankrupt, had he not signed a deal with Amazon, who knows how he would have survived. There was a sign he wasn't doing too well, he was doing voiceovers for anime and other things an Emmy winning actor sure wouldn't be doing. He was living beyond his means, flying to Dubai to fuck escorts, this man is a mess. He was also scamming a lot of people out of money on some of his projects, he didn't pay a new young director for a project he worked on and there were many other scams. Another project had to be halted because he ripped off the entire concept from another writer.

R44 must be talking about SIR Ben Kingsley.

Why is Sting supporting 6 adult children?

Yes, i took a look and most of Sting's children have tried acting, with middling roles and none have much talent. So yes, he is supporting these loser kids cause bit parts here and there don't pay for fancy clothes and cars.

Meet the actor Jack Sumner, son of Sting. He has a wife and kid he supports with his Hollywood career.

from his wiki:

"Jake Sumner is a renowned film director and model. He is better known as the son of Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner aka “Sting” who is an English musician, singer, songwriter, and actor.

Further, Jake is also known as the brother of English actress Mickey Sumner. Mickey is known for her roles as Sophie Levee in the 2012 movie, Frances Ha. Jake is also the half-brother of actress Fuschia Sumner. "

Maybe she invested in the ground floor of Zappos?

Oh sad, the poor drug-addled emaciated fellow running Zappos...who burnt himself alive in a "swimming shed".

His family just filed a lawsuit against his beautiful but voracious assistant.

I could see her do having 100 million. Her peak earning years were 1996-1999 or so. Say she earned 15 or so million each year and she invested in real estate or tech stock.

I mean, she could have bought NY or LA real estate back then for 1-5 million. Those type of properties go upwards of 30 million or more nowadays.

[quote]I love the people who are insistent she could have never had $100 million. Those same people rarely use numbers to make their points. Jewel had endorsement deals with Revlon or L'Oreal or something. She might have made $20-30 mil per year off of those for more than 1 year. The money on these endorsement deals is wild.

Seriously. People forget that an artist's money doesn't just come from their music if they're smart or the people around them are.

Beyond endorsement deals, the question to ask would be if Jewel invested in anything or her people talked her into something.

This discussion just happened with Elizabeth Hurley and then it happened with Olivia Munn who was talked into investing in Uber early on and made a killing.

She obviously made the 100 million from her book of poetry / everybody can relax now

a sample /

I Miss Your Touch

I miss your touch all taciturn like the slow migration of birds nesting momentarily

[quote] His family just filed a lawsuit against his beautiful but voracious assistant.

Actually, she filed a lawsuit against him / his estate. Estate countersued. She will regret opening this can of worms.

I thought first time artists got terrible contracts that heavily favored the studio? Her other albums didn’t do as well.

The person who keeps insisting Jewel could never accrue 100 million is talking out of their ass. This is a classic case of someone hating a celebrity and refusing to believe anything positive about them. I'm reminded of the thread where some crusty loser tried to claim Patton Oswalt wasn't a big star. I don't know people who work in "showbiz" as r44 claims but I have a hard time believing that celebrities spend 75% of their income on overhead. She was very famous in the late 90s. If she worked hard and didn't spend her money then it's totally plausible that she had 100 million for her mom to steal.

Dolly's net worth = $350 m Cher's net worth is$360 m

So there is that.

Celeb net worths are fake inflated, non of the kuntrashians or Jenners are real billionaires for example and jewel most deff never even got close to having 100m. He'll Britney barely has 100 million, he'll pedo jackson the biggest pop star of all time was drowning in debt by the time he died.

She also wrote her own hits so most of the royalties went only to her. Madonna started going for writing credit on her songs since she knew she'd make more money that way.

[quote][R44] must be talking about SIR Ben Kingsley.

No, not Sir Ben. Not sure he ever won an Emmy, think he won an Oscar. He hasn't "recently become popular in the US over the past few years." Ben is very well known.

This actor has been acting for years. A US cable series helped expand his fanbase beyond his home country, where he actually wasn't too well known there either. He has a solid body of varied work, in TV series and in films, but he's extremely difficult and he lies a lot. He's a master manipulator. There have been sexual assault allegations whispered about this man since around 2009-2010.

This actor is not quite yet 40.

receipts, Jewel.....we'll need receipts.

[quote] The person who keeps insisting Jewel could never accrue 100 million is talking out of their ass.

R57, you sound like a Jewel fan. Anything is obviously possible but the reality is she was never a star big enough to earn that much in such a short time.

[quote] She also wrote her own hits so most of the royalties went only to her.

Royalties only matter if your songs are played over and over and over again. I don't remember the year when I last heard anything from her playing anywhere. In fact I don't remember any songs from her even from the era she was supposedly huge. I vaguely remember a straight male friend liking her and thought the only reason was because he wanted to bang her.

It sounds like Jewel knew about Rogan's $100 million deal with Spotify and pulled the number out of her ass to make it seem like she's on the same level.

[quote]The person who keeps insisting Jewel could never accrue 100 million is talking out of their ass. This is a classic case of someone hating a celebrity and refusing to believe anything positive about them. I'm reminded of the thread where some crusty loser tried to claim Patton Oswalt wasn't a big star. I don't know people who work in "showbiz" as [R44] claims but I have a hard time believing that celebrities spend 75% of their income on overhead. She was very famous in the late 90s. If she worked hard and didn't spend her money then it's totally plausible that she had 100 million for her mom to steal.

Don't get your panties in a twist! Nowhere did I allude to "hating" Jewel. I'm not a fan of her music, but there's nothing to hate about this woman, who would hate Jewel? She's talented, attractive and I've never read anything negative about her. She's sure not as ridiculous as Madonna or any of those fame whores trying to hang out to their youth by getting tons of plastic surgery and going on TV talk shows and showing her ass.

I also never said any celebrity spends 75% of their income on overhead. Reading comprehension problems?

As far as 'working hard", in the US, at least, working hard is never a guarantee that the person will become rich. Most minimum wage workers 'work hard', they will never have a chance to become millionaires.

Honestly, stop with your ridiculous responses. Stop putting words into others mouths.

How did the mother embezzle $100m? How does that even happen without the artist noticing or banks raising any alarms?

“Follow your heart, your intuition…” 😩

Maybe Jewel received a huge divorce settlement ?

R67 She's been married once, to a rodeo cowboy called Ty Murray. There's no mention of him being fabulously wealthy and the divorce was amicable, so I doubt it. Likely she was the one who had a lot more money in that relationship.

If that were my mom she would be in jail, also why would you let a family member handle those kind of finances? Both of them seem like idiots.

R69 I don't get the people saying that she must be financially savvy. Surely the number 1 thing to do if you were, is to be on top of your finances and in control of them. I can't imagine having a family member embezzling something like $100m from me before I'd noticed and stopped it.

What daughter wants to believe that her mother is a low life leech who would rob her blind?

That's why they keep forgiving.

[quote]For reference, Britney Spears is rumored to be worth $60 million today.

And Forbes argues that's low. For comparison Jessica Simpson is said to be worth $110 million.

Britney blew through a good chunk of her fortune before the conservatorship.

Jewel wrote her own music which increased her income potential plus her shows and concerts were not fancy or complex so I bet she saved quite a bit in production costs which ended up in her pockets.

Jewel was raised in Alaska and is a low key person who didn’t flash her cash and try to keep up with Hollywood so it’s not surprising that she could have initially retained a good portion of her assets over the years. She has spoken about the relationship with her mom in the past and it she sounds like an awful person. Her father raised her for the most part.

I smell bullshit. Even with royalties, many musicians in the 90s didn't make bank because they signed bad contracts and managers took bigger cuts. She was always a second rate Alanis Morissette and there is no way Alanis Morissette ever made 100 million.

Jewel was very big for a hot second. She might have been in an Herbal Essences commercial, but she never made Mariah money.

Her first two albums were big hits. She put a Christmas album out shortly after that, which also did well—I still listen to it every year around the holidays. It brings back good memories for me (and the songs are beautifully done).

[quote]For comparison Jessica Simpson is said to be worth $110 million.

Another comparison that is not comparable at all. Simpson has a wildly successful clothing line.

[quote]I don't normally listen to the Joe Rogan show, but I made an exception when I saw Jewel was on there.

This cracked me up.

[quote]And three platinum albums in a row - 12 million, 4 million, 1 million sure sounds like a string of hit records to me -even if it's trending downward.

She wasn't even in the top 100-selling albums for the 3rd one and only reached the 68th top selling album for her 2nd. That's not the kind of sales that gets you $100M. I'm sure she made plenty of money, but not so much that her mother could steal $100M of it and still leave her rich.

excuse me, she didn't get paid 20 or 30 million per year for her commercial endorsements, she ain't fucking lebron or messi. She got paid a million or two max per year for those ads.

Also, artists only made 1 dollar per CD they sold. so there is no way she made 100 million. Maybe she made wise real estate investments that grew to 100 million? Even this is hard to believe. I think she embellished. It's probably 10 million, she added a zero...

Also how can you not know fraud was going on until 100 million was gone? that is such BS. was she fucked on drugs or pills and didn't notice?

Eh, we're only getting Jewel's side of the story. Maybe she allowed her mom free rein to gamble her meager $10 million on high risk investments. Mom spun it into gold---up to $100M. Then when the value tanked, Jewel says mom "embezzled" $100M.

R78 Jessica Simpson and Rhianna have made more from their clothing/makeup lines than they ever did from music. Jewel was a less famous Alanis Morissette. Jewel has probably made 50 million in her life at most but I'm guessing it's around 35 million. Artists in the 90s did not make much.

Jewel is allegedly one of the Masked Singers this year. I forget which one.

Songwriting is where the money is. An acquaintance wrote a jingle and is now rich. Not 100 million rich though.

Jewel signed the largest backend deal in history at the time of her signing.

There was a huge bidding war for her contract.

So we've decided that it's possible she could have made $100 million, but also very possible she didn't. Okay.

The exact amount isn't really the point - even if it's "only" 30 million, her mom is trash and it's unfortunate what she did.

List of how celebrities make crazy money (somewhat in order)

1. Opportunity to invest in companies that explode (Twitter, Uber, etc). 2. Launching their own brands. 3. Endorsement deals for makeup or clothing brands (Remember how Sarah Jessica Parker got $38 million for a GAP campaign that aired on tv for SIX FUCKING WEEKS before they scrapped it?) Catherine Zeta Jones got like $20 mil per year for the T-mobile ads that changed the game on this. 4. Perfume / cologne branding deals. 5. Endorsement deals for other stuff 6. Musical touring 7. Acting

The point is that she was hot for only a relatively short period before falling to the way side. Her 15 minutes was just about that - 15 minutes. She'd made a name for heself, sure, but she did not retain her star status within the realm of pop culture. Therefore, she did not have the time to capitalize on her fame by "selling out." Again, she simply didn't have the entire opportunity which others have enjoyed to gross the kind of bank which yields a 100 million dollar net worth, let alone liquidity! She lied. So what? It's show business - they all lie!

R89, she didn't get 20 million a year.

Adweek magazine says Welsh actress Catherine Zeta-Jones makes more money on commercials and ads than any other celebrity. Zeta-Jones is into her second two-year, $10 million contract with T-Mobile, appearing in print and TV ads. it's 2 years for 10 million dollars. learn to read.

She was making a few million a month for several years. I’m sure with all the touring money and merchandising and was close to 100m gross. The mom spent it all. Didn’t pay the bills either.

I remember her music from Dawson’s Creek and I bought her album. Wasn’t she pretty much a phoebe (from friends) type who got lucky. Her song “hands” it’s so hippy dippy. The idea that she made so much money from this persona seems funny to me. All these earthy singer song writers, surely money and fame is at odds with their image.

I disagree that Jewel only had 15 minutes of fame. She was an A list musician for at least a few years. Rosie O'Donnell made 100 million from doing her talk show for a few years. Why is it so hard to believe that Jewel earned this much? R65 you wouldn't be giving spittle-flecked lectures on Jewel's finances if you didn't feel strongly about her. I'm not a fan but you clearly hate her.

If she’s measuring the wealth by real estate purchased in the 90’s to it’s valuation today, YES I could see how she was worth 100 million.

10 million spent in the mid 90’s in parts of Boston and DC would easily be worth that today. Or if she had bought 10 million in Apple stock for $8 it’d be worth billions.

How who you piss away $100 million without a paper trail and some serious assets to reclaim.? Where did it all go? You can't spend that much cash on booz, drugs and whores.

Jewel explains in the interview how her first contract was structured and how the success of the album led to her getting $$$$.

Start listening at 1:55:00

[quote]Jewel never had one hundred million dollars to embezzle

Jewel sold a shit-ton of albums, and toured constantly throughout the 90s.

she was never top 10 in top grossing tours.

[quote]How who you piss away $100 million without a paper trail and some serious assets to reclaim.? Where did it all go? You can't spend that much cash on booz, drugs and whores.

This. What does a lowlife woman like that piss the money away on? And why didn't the financial institutions notify her of large chunks of assets disappearing? When Kathy Griffin's boyfriend stole nearly $100K from her, she found out because the bank noticed suspicious withdrawals and called to ask/notify.

R61, I count 2 British Emmy-award winning actors yet to reach the age of forty.

Josh O’Connor and—

This is a bit of a side note, but this thread is as good a place to post this. Melanie Safka was absolutely huge in the early 1970s. She says her husband, Peter Schekeryk, sold the copyrights to her music. She seems to be crying she's broke now, or at least not in the financial position one would expect.

The thing is, when she played at a venue, it was her and her guitar, long before Unplugged. That's a ton of money. There was no overhead, and she played live many, many times over during that period. Where did all the money go from her live shows?

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