Jewel Claims Her Mother Lenedra Carroll ‘Embezzled’ More Than $100 Million From Her: ‘Very Difficult Psychological Thing’ to Deal With
22.03.2023 - 21:58
/ usmagazine.com
Musician Jewel is opening up about her rocky relationship with her mother, Lenedra Carroll, whom she claims stole millions of dollars from her.
“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 48-year-old “You Were Meant for Me” songstress, whose full name is Jewel Kilcher, said during a Monday, March 20, episode of the “Verywell Mind” podcast. “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 Utah native’s complex relationship with her mother stems back to watching her parents get divorced when she was younger.
“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,” Jewel recalled to host Amy Morin during the podcast episode. “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 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.”
She continued: “I didn’t realize I was being abused in another way at the time. If you asked me when I was 9 to maybe